- By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter, funded by New Zealand on Air
Dog-walking limits being proposed by the Auckland Council have been questioned by several senior advocates, who suggest they’re too high.
At the council’s Senior Advisory Panel, a recent presentation on a proposal to limit the number of dogs that a person may walk at one time was made.
A review of the council’s dog management bylaw has found walking multiple dogs in public places is an emerging issue.
The review found that dog walkers managing multiple dogs were involved in a disproportionate number of incidents, such as aggressive behaviour and wildlife chasing.
A council policy advisor, Abigail Talavera, says the proposed limit is a maximum of six on-leash and a maximum of three off-leash.
“Nationally and internationally it’s a common view that four dogs on-leash and two off-leash is the maximum that one person can safely manage.”
Panel co-chair Claire Dale says the proposed six dogs seems too many.
“If a number of the dogs are large dogs, there’s no way in the world one person could control six large dogs.”
Susanne Tapsell says she lives near a park and has never seen a dog control officer.
“It’s an on-leash park, but all of the dogs are off-leash all the time. No one is ever being stopped.”
Tapsell questions if the council has the capacity to support a new rule.
Council principal policy advisor Kylie Hill says animal management has a graduated approach when responding to call outs.
“Roaming dogs is the number one priority and so if there’s a roaming dog incident that’s where their resource goes.
“[Compliance staff] are aware of this proposal and they’re aware of the potential implications that this may have,” Hill says.
Bruce Davies says he’s concerned about the proposed number of dogs.
“Having a dog is fine, but controlling several dogs like it’s been said is really frightening to me as an elderly person. It’s bad enough seeing one dog out of control.”
Panel member Lindsay Waugh says the proposal is overly prescriptive as the present bylaw already requires dogs to be under control at all times.
“Big dogs, small dogs, there is a vast difference in how many you can or should control, but the current bylaw states that dogs must be under control at all times.”
Panel member Janis McArdle says the idea of what is “under control” is up to interpretation based on who you speak with.
“We’ve had some really horrific incidents on the [Waiheke] Island. There’s one chap who was regularly, until about a year ago, walking up to 10 dogs off-lead and that was very scary.
“More than two dogs off a lead is a pack and most of the behaviourists will tell you that.
“That’s when the pack behaviour starts to kick in. I would support a maximum of six dogs on a lead and a maximum of two off-lead.”
