Unleashed dogs a worry

Te Henui Walkway must be one of the loveliest walks in Taranaki, possibly all of New Zealand.

It is about two years since I last walked there and, unfortunately, on Sunday I realised why I had not been back for such a long time – it seems that this has become The Dog Walk. I had a lovely walk except there were even more dogs not on leashes than my last walk there. I am not talking about one dog or two dogs but lots of dogs and all bigger dogs. I commented to a couple of people about their dogs not being on leashes and I was told that dogs didn’t have to be on leashes at that part of the track. ‘‘That only applied on the other side. If you don’t like it then go and walk somewhere else.’’Another commented: ‘‘I thought they were being well-behaved.’’

I don’t have a dog, obviously, and am more than happy to share the walkways with dogs on leashes, but I struggle to understand why many dog owners do not understand that people, me included, just don’t like walking past loose dogs. They can be scary to those of us who don’t have dogs. I did comment to someone with their dog on a leash and he seemed pleased to hear something positive.

I don’t know if New Plymouth has a dog park but I do wish that dog owners could be a bit more considerate of non-dog owners in public spaces.

Dawn Laurence, Waitara