Four dogs maximum among new rules for walkers (From Wimbledon Guardian)

LBM--ttfo--its not your business--you are OUR servants--stop trying to poke your nose in

its about time merton done somthing how can you let your dog run loose in the town center are in a park wen theres kids

educashun etc

oh the horror to think parents should teach their kids how to behave towards a dog and how to be responsible themselves :o

I agree that dogs should be on leads while in car parks or by roads - BUT NOT IN PARKS. It is vital for the well being of dogs to have the daily opportunity to run and burn off natural energy. Not allowing them to do so will created more unbalanced behaviour in them.

Also the number of dogs walked off lead isn't always the issue. One bad owner can have one dog with hyper energy (causing possible friction when meeting another dog with the same imbalance) But a calm owner can have many dogs who are balanced, calm and under control. I think, of course there has to be some limits, but 4 per person is too low. I would suggest six PER PERSON?

I live next to a 'tough' estate with many staffies and mixed bull breeds - there is rarely any problems. Dogs have 'spats' just as humans do - but it's a part of life as a good dog owner and 'spats' rarely, if ever trun into something worse. Of course there can be a tiny minority of idiots who train their dogs agressively, but I've encountered that kind of person once in 20 years of dog ownership.

I've been walking my dog (& past ones) in all the parks of Merton, twice a day for 17 years: Merton's dog owners are a wonderful community of people who love the parks and their pets. I have a one year old Lurcher who is at the stage of going up to strangers to say hello - of course I discourage her and she will grow out of this but 9/10 people are happy to coo and stroke her and let their children learn about how to approach and be with dogs through our interaction: it's part of park life. Most owners are curteous of those who are fearful, in the same way that most parents are curteous of their kids behaviour. Please - please don't let a minority of dog-fearful people who use the parks irregularly, to ruin an important part of many residents lives. You only have to attend a 'Merton Dog Watch' event to see all shapes, sizes, colours and classes of people and dogs, enjoying each other's close space safely and calmly to realise that a knee jerk reaction such as these control orders are bias and unnecessary.

MertonRes wrote:
I agree that dogs should be on leads while in car parks or by roads - BUT NOT IN PARKS. It is vital for the well being of dogs to have the daily opportunity to run and burn off natural energy. Not allowing them to do so will created more unbalanced behaviour in them.

Also the number of dogs walked off lead isn't always the issue. One bad owner can have one dog with hyper energy (causing possible friction when meeting another dog with the same imbalance) But a calm owner can have many dogs who are balanced, calm and under control. I think, of course there has to be some limits, but 4 per person is too low. I would suggest six PER PERSON?

I live next to a 'tough' estate with many staffies and mixed bull breeds - there is rarely any problems. Dogs have 'spats' just as humans do - but it's a part of life as a good dog owner and 'spats' rarely, if ever trun into something worse. Of course there can be a tiny minority of idiots who train their dogs agressively, but I've encountered that kind of person once in 20 years of dog ownership.

I've been walking my dog (& past ones) in all the parks of Merton, twice a day for 17 years: Merton's dog owners are a wonderful community of people who love the parks and their pets. I have a one year old Lurcher who is at the stage of going up to strangers to say hello - of course I discourage her and she will grow out of this but 9/10 people are happy to coo and stroke her and let their children learn about how to approach and be with dogs through our interaction: it's part of park life. Most owners are curteous of those who are fearful, in the same way that most parents are curteous of their kids behaviour. Please - please don't let a minority of dog-fearful people who use the parks irregularly, to ruin an important part of many residents lives. You only have to attend a 'Merton Dog Watch' event to see all shapes, sizes, colours and classes of people and dogs, enjoying each other's close space safely and calmly to realise that a knee jerk reaction such as these control orders are bias and unnecessary.

& lets also highlight the most important in a responsible owners training of their dog/dogs??? RE-CALL! my pet pieve is some other dog owner saying ''its alright my dogs friendly'' well whilst my dog is in the middle of her training i will ask you to call your dog back & what do they do? laugh & ignore. THAT! is not good training. It is already law to have your dog leashed & tagged on any public path/highway. simple answer? be responsible & dont train through decipline (what one idiot said, he meant physical punshiment) & always 'reward based training'

people this is good news. now there is less **** on my shoes.