Dog control orders and bans, advice

The council and the process

Most areas in the UK now have dog control orders or actual bans in place or will have soon. These range from sensible and understandable rules to the downright ridiculous.

Councils have to consult the public to make these changes and some haven't gone through because councils haven't followed the correct legal process for the consultation.

For reasons I cannot fathom, most owners do nothing or at the most complain amongst themselves. Only one campaign that I have supported has actually had any effect on the outcome and that was down to an amazing committee, dedicated and professional people who kept up the pressure and got everyone involved.

Don't think everyone else will do it, they won't and don't think that signing a petition makes a difference, it doesn't.

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What to do if your council is consulting on dog control orders or bans

The process usually starts because of complaints, so know thine enemy. The council usually acts in response to endless complaints about fouling, barking, aggression and general nuisance. So your enemy is not just the council, it's the people who are complaining. Too many times pressure groups get bogged down with fighting the council officials and forget it is a bigger group they need to answer to.

Most groups start with a petition and lots think that's the end of it. As if enough signatures makes the council go "oh OK, so many people can't be wrong...." This isn't going to happen. I have seen some petitions, including one in my area which had missed the point of the bans completely and had the story wrong so the whole petition was useless. Make sure you know exactly what is being proposed.

Some of it may well be sensible such as no dogs in children's play areas or no off lead dogs near other animals. Be clear what you are objecting to.

Create a committee and respect it. Someone has to coordinate the petition collection. There's no use in 10 of you all turning up in the same place. If you have leaflets to give out, again someone has to design, print and manage the distribution. I can't stress enough how businesslike this has to be. Often it is a case of 10 people say yes, no problem I'll give some out, but they take them home and forget about them.

You need to be represented at council meetings and ask questions. You can also invoke the Freedom of Information Act to see what you are fighting. This gives you the right to ask for the details of how many complaints have been received and in what category.

An information day is a good idea too. I have been to some and spoken to the press and the local dog owners. Get the local radio and newspapers involved. Create a gimmick like someone in a dog costume, or local kids helping to give out poop bags. Something worth a photo makes all the difference.

Canvass dog owners at the places affected by the ban. They often don't know that they may have to stop letting their dog loose or even be banned altogether. Get their signatures, make sure they have poop bags.

Local businesses may offer support such as sponsoring printing. They may want to contribute to the cost of a poop bin if their names are on it. Again this can create a good PR story for the papers. Local pet food companies might want to offer free sample bags to give away in the park so you can attract people and explain what is happening.

If you visit areas where there are bins that haven't been emptied in a while, take photos, noting time and date and go back to check to see how long it remains overflowing.

You have to accept that there are bad dog owners out there whose dogs foul, bark, act aggressively and they don't care. There still isn't sufficient legislation to punish the people rather than the dogs.

Lots of these orders go through with just a petition in objection, it isn't enough. You need a campaign if this is going to change anything. The Kennel Club has KC Dog which says it helps in these campaigns and amongst other things they can talk to councils. I honestly have never seen this happen or for it to have made any difference.

Often lots of people turn up for the first meeting but really can't be bothered to actually do anything. A committee is created, but quickly loses interest when they realise all the help offered isn't going to happen. Don't be lazy, if you lose more and more places to walk your dog exactly what are you going to do? Don't moan if you were one of the many who simply whinged but didn't act and we all lost our walking spaces.

I created a basic test dogs and owners could do to prove how safe and responsible they were and hoped the councils would use it, but they prefer bans rather than rewarding the good ones. Without changing this attitude there is no reason to be a better owner which means we will never improve the behaviour of the bad ones.

Please support your local campaigns, or start one!

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