kmahon2001
27-Sep-09, 19:28
Are there no public open spaces around here? I've been looking for a good safe place to walk my dogs off the lead in Halkirk, but can't find anywhere nearby - the only public space I can see is the sports ground, but that is open to the road, and the signs say dogs must be kept on a lead. All the rest of the land around here seems to be fenced off agricultural land - understandable in a farming area, but surely there is a need for some public land too in or near a village this size?
When I first moved here I asked my neighbours where to walk the dogs, but they said there is nowhere, they just walk their dogs in one of the nearby fields - so that is what I did for a while, but now that field is full of sheep. I then started to use another field where there were no sheep, but today I saw the landowner there and he said he will be moving sheep in there in the next week or so. He told me that he's getting a good 20 or 30 people a day walking their dogs in that field at the moment and not everyone is picking up after their dogs, so he's understandably annoyed about this. He told me that dog poo can cause abortion in ewes, so I would think he'd be more than just annoyed, he must be worried about what will happen to his sheep when he does move them in. Surely it would be in the interests of all the residents of Halkirk as well as the farmers around here to have a dedicated public space where people can walk their dogs safely and keep them totally away from sheep grazing land.
The other thing is that the landowner I met today also told me that as these fields are privately owned, I should keep my dogs on the lead at all times anyway, which defeats the object of going into an enclosed field in the first place. If what he says is true then I may as well wander the dogs up and down the verge on the lead. Dogs need a good run off the lead - you can't expect them to burn off any energy by just walking up and down the verges.
The only alternative I can see is to pile the dogs into the car every day to take them somewhere where I can let them off the lead, but in these days of environmental awareness, when we are being encouraged not to use our cars as much, it's surely not desirable to be using our cars just to walk the dogs. :(
When I first moved here I asked my neighbours where to walk the dogs, but they said there is nowhere, they just walk their dogs in one of the nearby fields - so that is what I did for a while, but now that field is full of sheep. I then started to use another field where there were no sheep, but today I saw the landowner there and he said he will be moving sheep in there in the next week or so. He told me that he's getting a good 20 or 30 people a day walking their dogs in that field at the moment and not everyone is picking up after their dogs, so he's understandably annoyed about this. He told me that dog poo can cause abortion in ewes, so I would think he'd be more than just annoyed, he must be worried about what will happen to his sheep when he does move them in. Surely it would be in the interests of all the residents of Halkirk as well as the farmers around here to have a dedicated public space where people can walk their dogs safely and keep them totally away from sheep grazing land.
The other thing is that the landowner I met today also told me that as these fields are privately owned, I should keep my dogs on the lead at all times anyway, which defeats the object of going into an enclosed field in the first place. If what he says is true then I may as well wander the dogs up and down the verge on the lead. Dogs need a good run off the lead - you can't expect them to burn off any energy by just walking up and down the verges.
The only alternative I can see is to pile the dogs into the car every day to take them somewhere where I can let them off the lead, but in these days of environmental awareness, when we are being encouraged not to use our cars as much, it's surely not desirable to be using our cars just to walk the dogs. :(