Calling all dog owners, Whats your opinion?

[GillandMike]

I have often wondered how the council dispose of the stuff out of the dog bins, I must ask the guy next time I see him emptying them. It would clearly not decompose quickly with each piece neatly wrapped in a poly bag, keep fresh (!) for ages, and could be difficult for the NT to deal with. By the way, sounds like a great site, where is it?

Hi Jim and Pauline, Mikes wife here

The NT site is at Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast. We've just come back from a two week stay in a friends cottage at Southwold. We've been going there for the last four years as we adore the area. We live in the Cotswolds so having a nice bit of flat countryside to walk in great. The NT do have a dog poo bin in the car parking area for obvious reasons. Do go if you're that way as its the best place I know to experiance lots of differant types of countryside within a few miles - heathland, reed beds, woodland and of course the beach and sea. Fantastic walking and good bird watching at the RSPB site at Minsmere. Dogs have to be on a lead during ground bird nesting times April to August I think, but we usually go in October, however we did go once in May and the bird life and birdsong is amazing. Sold it to you yet??

 

[Eddie1FromNottingham]

Hi, Jim & Pauline,

Yes, While I'm clearing away Dog Mess I may as well clean up cigarette buts cut the Grass and clean the Toilet block. Oh and if someone asks I might even walk their Dogs. That should make a weekend break fly by.

Eddie.

 

[JandP]

its nice to know that u like to keep busy eddie Pauline

 

[Dunfishin]

I think you should consider things very carefully before you hand out dog turds to perfect strangers, especially with all this avaian flu about.

 

[JandP]

I have 3 small dogs but totally disagree on picking up irresponsible owners dogs faeces. The kind of people who do this are bone idle and I wonder what their homes are like. If we start running around clearing up after their dogs they'll be wanting us to call around and wipe their backsides. On arrival at the C.C.C. site at Ebury Hill I was in conversation with the site manager about this very subject. Five minutes later we took our dogs on the dog walk and 5 yards from a bin was a great pile. The following day there was another pile just 3 yards from the same bin. Another bone of contention is letting their dogs off the lead when it clearly states "dogs must be kept on a lead". A few weeks ago at another C.C.C. site at Winchcombe an owner was trying to call his dog from the other side of the field without success. Eventually his dog did return and he looked a little embarrassed as he told me dogs love exercise. I told him that 1. I would have the same problem as him if I let ours off their leads - 2. while on their leads I had total control over them which I wouldnt if a dog attacked them while off their leads and 3. while on the lead I can see where they defecate and duly clear it up unlike himself when the dog is at the otherside of the field.

that is one of the reasons flexi leads where invented so that you can keep your dog under control and give it some exercise at the same time Pauline

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Just got back from the C.C. site at Minehead. Lovely site, nice wardens and nice small dog walk. My wife and myself both trod in dog mess who the ******* owners were too idle to pick up and we didnt stray off the path. One day there was such a commotion from barking and into view came a lady with 3 dogs, all off leads. She explained how embarrassing it was with them barking and there would be another along shortly. Sure enough her 4th dog caught her up. How does she know where her dogs defecate? She doesn't and obviously doesn't care. If the dogs were on leads, which was required by the signage, she would be able to see when they did their business and pick it up like MOST responsible dog owners. I agree with a former post, the owners once caught should be banned by the clubs.

 

[CliveV]

Agree Yr L'shp

I suggested a while back that those that have dogs should sign an agreement at registration on site that dog fouling is unacceptable, complaints will be investigated and those that do allow their dogs to foul the site would be asked to leave.

A fait bit of support for this at the time - As dog owner who DOES pick-up I think it wrong that sites and the Clubs condone such anti-social behaviour.

Your example of the lady with 4 dogs off the lead is typical. Thats 4 "loose" turds (you know how I love my Math!) which means four potential "Lets Ban Dogs from Sites" votes.

I am all for the sites and the Clubs getting stronger on this - if they do not we could end up with a total ban.

 

[GillandMike]

Oh how I agree with you Clive and Lord B. My main fear is that if dogs are banned from sites thats the end of caravanning for us. We holiday in the van so we can take the dogs with us, so many cottages etc won't take dogs these days. We've only just bought the van!!

Mikes wife

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Oh how I agree with you Clive and Lord B. My main fear is that if dogs are banned from sites thats the end of caravanning for us. We holiday in the van so we can take the dogs with us, so many cottages etc won't take dogs these days. We've only just bought the van!!

Mikes wife

We take our 3 everywhere with us too and it would also mean knocking caravanning on the head because theres no way we would put them in kennels.

 

[JandP]

Hiya guys,

We are in the same position as the rest of you who would suffer from a dog ban and that is why I posted this question to try to come up with some ideas to prevent it. There has been an excellent response so thanks to all of you who have taken the time to reply.

Its great to see that there are so many responsible owners who always clean up and keep their dogs under control so they dont annoy others.

So whats the best way to deal with the selfish minority who risk spoiling it for the rest of us? Ideally this would not involve too much extra work by the site owner or manager as many of them already have a high workload and may be tempted to take the easy solution (a ban).

By the way Lord B, have you considered a house sitter if the worst did happen and you couldnt take the dogs with you? We have one for the times when we cant take the dogs (for example our daughters recent wedding in Scotland or the occasional trip to the Costas) He is a young friend of the family who still lives at home and it works very well. He enjoys the freedom of living on his own for a while, the dogs know him and are quite happy to stay in their own home and we know we can trust him to look after the house and the dogs. We pay him (

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

I understand your point Jim or Pauline but I prefer to have the dogs with me, call us sad if you like but somehow its too quiet without them. Also there always seems to be something missing if they aren't with us. Theres no problems regarding someone to look after them because I have 4 serfs on my estate at Screwemm Hall plus my regular maids and butler.

 

[Stephen_5077753]

I remember a good few years back my uncle kept finding dog mess outside his house. Happened every morning, same place. He cleaned it up every day but yet the dog kept doing its business there every day. Apparently it was the same dog, some ppl say they can tell!!.... Anyways, he started getting out of bed early for a week and watched the same dog owner walking his dog letting the dog do its business. He watched for a week and then asked the guy politley to either pick it up or get the dog to do it elsewhere. The owner was abusive back. My uncle followed chap home with the previous weeks business that he had saved in a carrier bag. Waited for a little while and posted the contents of bag through the guys letter box WITHOUT THE CARRIER BAG!!

Funny how he never found dog pooh outside his house again eh?

Steve

 

[JandP]

Know just what you mean Lorb B, we feel totally lost when we dont have ours with us. (pathetic isnt it!). We had to leave them at home for 2 weeks while we went to Scotland for our daughters wedding and after a couple of days we found we were going up to complete strangers and asking if we could stroke their dogs because we missed ours so much. We will still need our dog sitter though because we have a new puppy so that makes a total of 4 dogs, 3 German Shepherds and a terrier and even the most obliging site would frown on that lot! The terrier gets car sick so we will leave her at home with one of the older Shepherds for company.

 

[Fastcat]

Hi all dog owners,

we do not own a dog, we do like them, but feel that it isn't the right time at the moment to own one as we lead very busy lifetyles. But we do wish that owners would be more considerate, we went to a site in Anglesey this summer and we reakon that at least every other caravan owned a dog, not quite the nice quiet holiday we were hoping for, although most of the owners kept to the rules of the site there is always one that breaks them, the dog was loose most of the time, we never saw it make a mess anywhere but were absolutely horrified when we saw the owners put the tap on so it could have a drink from the tap where we had been filling our water containers from, the dog was licking it, yuk! needless to say we used another tap to fill up from after that.

We went to scotland as well this summer, we went out for a drive and ended up at a loch, where we parked up got out to stretch our legs and with in seconds of arriving there our son had stepped into dog poo, in fact after closer inspection it was all over the place, owners let themselves down, why can't they clean up after there pets. if they can't look after them properly they shouldn't have them at all.

Its the same where we live, the government are always complaining that we use our cars too much so i always walk my son to school but you can't enjoy your surrounding as you are always looking at your feet in case you stand in something unpleasant.

I am not tarring everyone with the same brush, i am sure that the majority of you are very reponsible but its the few that are not that let the side down, you know who you are, so come on please think of others.

 

[JandP]

Hi Lorraine,

Thanks for your comment, its good to get a response from a non-dog owner. Comments on this forum clearly show that the vast majority of dog owners share your disgust at the examples you have quoted and it would be better for us all if the minority who do these things could be persuaded to think more about the consequence of their selfishness.

You say you like dogs though you dont have one at the moment, but do you think dogs should be banned or would that be unfair on the vast majority of owners who behave responsibly?

We have had plenty of comments from responsible dog owners and now from non-dog owners to. What we need now is a reply from the offenders to see if they can justify their attitude (no wind-ups please!) and it would also be interesting to get a site owners oppinion. Jim.

 

[Fastcat]

Hi Lorraine,

Thanks for your comment, its good to get a response from a non-dog owner. Comments on this forum clearly show that the vast majority of dog owners share your disgust at the examples you have quoted and it would be better for us all if the minority who do these things could be persuaded to think more about the consequence of their selfishness.

You say you like dogs though you dont have one at the moment, but do you think dogs should be banned or would that be unfair on the vast majority of owners who behave responsibly?

We have had plenty of comments from responsible dog owners and now from non-dog owners to. What we need now is a reply from the offenders to see if they can justify their attitude (no wind-ups please!) and it would also be interesting to get a site owners oppinion. Jim.

Hi Jim & Pauline,

No i don't think that they should be banned completely, because lots of people treat them as their family and it would like leaving your kids behind, i also think perhaps people have caravans knowing that they can take their pets away with them, but perhaps sites could limit the amount of dogs on site at any one time or have dog only sites like adult only ones.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Hi Lorraine,

Thanks for your comment, its good to get a response from a non-dog owner. Comments on this forum clearly show that the vast majority of dog owners share your disgust at the examples you have quoted and it would be better for us all if the minority who do these things could be persuaded to think more about the consequence of their selfishness.

You say you like dogs though you dont have one at the moment, but do you think dogs should be banned or would that be unfair on the vast majority of owners who behave responsibly?

We have had plenty of comments from responsible dog owners and now from non-dog owners to. What we need now is a reply from the offenders to see if they can justify their attitude (no wind-ups please!) and it would also be interesting to get a site owners oppinion. Jim.

Lorraine and Jim, you wont find anyone posting who doesn't pick up after their dogs but they are out there. The only thing we dog owners who do clean up can do is keep on about it and hope it pricks their conscience though I doubt it. It would be nice for someone to own up though and give a reason why they dont clean up. The only reason I can think of is its the "sod you jack, im ok" attitude. Another pet hate of mine is dogs off leads when it clearly states on the site "PEOPLE LOVE YOUR DOGS BUT PLEASE KEEP THEM ON A LEAD". Cant they read or are they that dense they dont think it applies to them. You cant control a dog when its off the lead and either 50 yards in front or behind you. You cant see where its dumping its load for others to step in. I wouldnt dream of letting ours off the lead because if they saw another person or dog they go selectively deaf. The dog they ran off to play with could be nasty and to a Doberman mine are bitesized. Before I step off my soapbox I must say one more point and Im as guilty as most at this, it's not always campers who are at fault, some sites use the local walks and its the locals who let their dogs poop all over the place. Marazion C.C. site is a typical example.

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Lorraine and Jim, you wont find anyone posting who doesn't pick up after their dogs but they are out there. The only thing we dog owners who do clean up can do is keep on about it and hope it pricks their conscience though I doubt it. It would be nice for someone to own up though and give a reason why they dont clean up. The only reason I can think of is its the "sod you jack, im ok" attitude. Another pet hate of mine is dogs off leads when it clearly states on the site "PEOPLE LOVE YOUR DOGS BUT PLEASE KEEP THEM ON A LEAD". Cant they read or are they that dense they dont think it applies to them. You cant control a dog when its off the lead and either 50 yards in front or behind you. You cant see where its dumping its load for others to step in. I wouldnt dream of letting ours off the lead because if they saw another person or dog they go selectively deaf. The dog they ran off to play with could be nasty and to a Doberman mine are bitesized. Before I step off my soapbox I must say one more point and Im as guilty as most at this, it's not always campers who are at fault, some sites use the local walks and its the locals who let their dogs poop all over the place. Marazion C.C. site is a typical example.