Have your say.

At the Wellington City Council site there’s a petition for a better deal for dogs:

Title: A Positive Dog Policy Petition

Opened: 25 September 2009

Closes: 25 October 2009

Petition Details

We request that the Dog Policy include:

• increased off lead access to the Town Belt, Botanic Gardens, beaches, Karori Cemetery, Trelissick & Macalister Parks
• a presumption that dogs will be under control rather than simply on leash. Ecologically sensitive areas & the City Centre to be on-leash.
• access to the City Centre 24/7 & for Waitangi Park to be removed as a prohibited area
• expanded exercise areas that are fenced, with poo bag dispensers & rubbish bins

Background information

This petition grew out of the Dog Policy review process of 8 & 10 September. It reflects a careful across-the-wards effort by Wellington dog owners, Wellington non-owners, and members of DAWGS to improve our city by improving its dog policy.

• http://www.bringfido.com/destination/city/lon…
• http://www.sfdog.org/do/runfree_sf.htm
• http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/480007
• http://doglobby.org/
• http://knowit.co.nz/2009/09/wellington-needs-…
• http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=1529231…

Visit: ePetitions – Current ePetitions – Details – Wellington – New Zealand before 25 October 2009 to have your say.

I received the following email, but have been a bit tardy in posting I’m afraid. It relates to the 2009 Draft Dog Policy for Wellington, New Zealand.

Hi everyone,
Doug Wilkins here. I am founding an organisation, the working title of which is an acronym, DAWGS, short for Dogs Are Wellington’s Secret. I am recruiting you and your abundant talents.

I, for one, would like to see numerous improvements in the policy, but my primary emphasis is a rollback of the banishment of dogs from the city centre. As a corollary to this, it only makes sense that dogs be allowed back onto our public transit. No doubt many of you have other useful suggestions for improving the relationship between this wonderful city and its most wonderful pedestrians.

Preparatory to the city council’s review of the current dog policies of Wellington, I am seeking the following:

1. More people, dog owners and non-owners, to participate.
2. In particular, I think it is important to find people who are both willing to speak in front of the city council on or after 10th September. (NB: I have a background in persuasive speech and debate instruction and would work with you on your oral submission if that is of interest to you)
3. People who can identify, and then keep in touch with, city council members who are sympathetic to the general cause of improving the dog policies. And, conversely, it would help to know which council members, if any, are deaf to our discourse — no point in wasting time and energy.
4. People who can identify public officials (police, public transit officials, planners, lawyers, animal control officers) who are sympathetic to the general cause of improving the dog policies.
5. People who can curb their anger during this time. We want to win, not merely score broadsides.
6. People who can advance the cause via the Internet. We need a Facebook page, and so forth.
7. Pursuant to #1, non-dog owners who can contribute to any of the above because statistically they are significant. Of particular interest to us are people who would own dogs if they could (i.e. people in council housing, students, renters, elderly people) and who therefore welcome dogs in the public areas of the city and surrounding areas.
8. People who have lived in more dog-friendly cities, both inside and outside of New Zealand. Their testimony will be most persuasive, of course.
9. People who can recruit more of the above. We need pure weight of numbers to advance the cause of dogs and their owners.

[Leave a comment below to let Doug know of your interest.]

Cheers,
Doug

Update: over at consultations.org.nz you can read the draft policy as a single page or a series of pages and leave comments. Please use that site to hold discussions by comments with other Wellington dog owners. Comments are also welcome here on this article.

If you’re one of Wellington’s approximately 5,500 dog-owning households you really should closely read and then respond to the new Draft Dog Policy. ¹

The deadline for submissons is: 5.00pm Friday 7 August 2009 . (Or 4pm, if you read the brochure available online.)

They still hate us

The Council still hate dogs, though they’re hiding it a bit more now.

Many dog owners in Wellington that I’ve spoken to feel the Council hates them. Try Page 7 of the Draft Policy:

92% of Wellington households are not dog owners. When considering the exercise and recreation needs of dogs and their owners, it is important to ensure that the general public are not intimidated by uncontrolled dogs and that conflict of use is avoided or mitigated.

It sums it up the approach of the Draft Policy nicely: dogs are dangerous, vile things to be excluded if possible. 92% are not — they could have said 8% are …

It’s galling to read the Council’s Vision:

Wellington is a vibrant city with a thriving cultural life … the city has an abundance of recreation and leisure opportunities. …Wellington City Council wants to … help achieve economic growth, greater prosperity and an improved quality of life for all Wellingtonians.

What’s missing there is the implied final except for dogs and their owners.

OK, let’s try to be fair. Someone on the Council has obviously worked extremely hard to get this grudging note added (also on Page 7):

The Council has a responsibility to safeguard community safety and health by controlling the activities of dogs. The Council also recognises the health, safety, well-being and companionship benefits of dog ownership.

We see though that still the main emphasis is on dog control; the benefits of ownership are secondary.

Future articles on specific topics

If this one article were to discuss the entire Draft policy it would be a week long. I simply want to introduce the topic here and point out the underlying negative philosophy.

We have around 4 weeks to make comment, and there’s a lot to discuss. If there’s a particular topic you’d like raised leave a comment on this post and I can create a new Post on that topic.

Just a parting word: I was discussing the Draft Policy with a couple of dog owners I met at the beach. Their first remark was how much it must have cost to produce the glossy book that was sent to all Wellington registered dog owners. That money could have been better spent on providing services such as rubbish bins at off-leash areas …

¹ The Draft Policy

The Council’s current Dog Control Policy was adopted in 2004. It is largely concerned with community safety and health as well as dog welfare and registration. The policy also sets restrictions on dog access to public places.

Submissions

To give the Council your submissions on the draft Dog Policy, read the brochure below and complete the submission form. The brochure includes the Summary of the Statement of Proposal as well as the full Statement of Proposal.

• Draft Dog Policy Public Consultation Brochure (419Kb PDF)
• Online Submission Form

The deadline for submissons is: 5.00pm Friday 7 August 2009 .

Alternatively, the brochure and form are available:

• at the Council reception desk at 101 Wakefield Street
• from Council Service Centres and libraries
• by post – contact the Council for your copy.

[Via : Public Input - Draft Dog Policy - Wellington - New Zealand.]

The announcement above has been abbreviated.

While some of us keep dogs as pets and companions, others put them to work guarding, sniffing out items of interest, protecting, guiding, and generally working hard.

In Australia the University of Sydney is carrying out a survey to find out just what working dogs do, how they are trained, which breeds are best suited to which tasks, and just how many dogs are ‘employed’:

dogs of all shapes and sizes are under the magnifying glass for Australia’s first working dog survey, which aims to find how to get the most out of man’s best friend.

The data on various types of canines — from military mutts to sporting dogs — will then be passed on to the Federal Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy, which wants to make consistent national policies.

The study quizzes the owners of government, service and sport dogs about how they train, handle, house and care for their animals through an online survey.

Co-ordinator Nick Branson says the study will find out how many working dogs there are Australia-wide and why some training programs work better than others.

[Via : Working like a dog: spotlight on man's best friend - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).]

There’s no doubt that dogs play an important part in our society. It’s good to see this attempt to draw data together.

The Wellington City Council is about to begin consulting the public about dogs and dog facilities in the city:

Wellington City Council is to consider a number of changes to its Dog Control Policy. A draft paper of suggested changes will go before the Council’s Strategy and Policy next Thursday 7 May before going out for public consultation in June [2009].

About 8,500 dogs are registered in Wellington City – about 8 percent of the city’s households have dogs.

The Council adopted the Dog Control Policy in 2004 and agreed to review it in 2009. The policy focuses on ensuring public health and safety, animal welfare, the recreational needs of dogs and their owners and responsible dog ownership.
Proposed changes to the policy include:

• an increase in off-leash dog exercise areas
• improved access for dogs and their owners to the waterfront through the central business district
• a proposal for destination dog parks
• a requirement for dog owners to carry a dog poo receptacle.

[Via : News - Every Dog Owner to Have Their Say.]

There are reports available as PDFs on the Strategy & Policy page. Report 1, Draft Dog Control Policy 2009 is the one you need.