City Of Wyndham Proposed Ban On Dogs Barking At Front Boundaries

[Erny]

Well, it was written up on DOL not so long ago, about this proposed animal by-law and it seems that the City of Wyndham are now seriously considering implementing it. Interview by Neil Mitchell (3AW) with Mr. Attley (sp?) of the City of Wyndham (summary : my words) ....

Mr. Attley (City of Wyndham) : It is only a proposed by-law at this stage but the effect will be that dogs are not to be permitted in front yards unless supervised or under the control of the owner. City of Wyndham won't police the law (ie they aren't going to go driving around looking for unsupervised dogs in front yard ..... although I wonder if THAT will be in writing?) unless there was a complaint.

Neil Mitchell : Graeme Smith LDH says, in response to this proposed law that it is "madness" and "over the top".

Mr. Attley (City of Wyndham) : Residents feel unsafe with dog barking and hitting the fence.

Callers invited :

• the less dogs have contact with people/passer byers the less sociable they will be with them
  
• ludicrous - yards are small enough as it is.
  
• children need to be accustomed to dogs
  
• (Policeman) complained about council non-response to calls about a dog at large unless an attack has occurred and suggested if people want council to respond they need to say there has been an attack.
  
• (Council Animal Management person) - objects to (above) policeman's suggestion as 'crying wolf' will only create apathy.
  

Don't know if there will be more said on 3AW about it, but that's what I heard so far.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Erny

[spottychick]

Idiotic. Well that's one place I can cross of my "where shall I move to next" list. It's so nice of their council to help narrow my options for me!

I can see neighbourhood disputers loving this little bit of legislation. What a great way to strike at your neighbour - who's to say the dog didn't run at the fence barking????

[Erny]

Idiotic. Well that's one place I can cross of my "where shall I move to next" list. It's so nice of their council to help narrow my options for me!

I can see neighbourhood disputers loving this little bit of legislation. What a great way to strike at your neighbour - who's to say the dog didn't run at the fence barking????

Yes - and it is an easy way out for Council to be 'seen' to have done something (potentially about nothing ). Neighbour complains? Easy - make dog owner keep dog in back yard. Job done. Easy money.

[corvus]

Frankly, if this had been the law where I grew up, my dog would not have been attacked more than once on our own driveway, or that other couple of times we were walking past someone's house. And I wouldn't have been rushed by a dog and charged by another from someone's front yard when I was doing my pamphlet delivery job. And the little girl I know of wouldn't have lost 2 and a half fingers from the crazy heeler that took exception to her running her fingers along the front fence. The mongrel of a 3-legged Boxer down the street would not have been attacking passers-by, and countless dog fights and fence fights would have been prevented, not to mention gaining the freedom of being able to walk where we liked with our dogs without having to pray to god that the dog behind the front fence would not realise they could jump it.

It's only fair that postmen and water meter readers be allowed to access those parts of your yard without having to deal with a dog they don't know, and what's more, I wouldn't leave a dog in a front yard unsupervised anyway. Only takes one smart alek to open the gate and leave it ajar...

[Jed]

Another numpty council wanting to enact another numpty law. If councils enforced the laws they already have, the wouldn't need more, so ACO's didn't need to do anything at all.

For a council which apparently doesn't respond to complaints unless they involve attacks to want to implement a law like this shows it is time for a new council

One with grey matter.

I also wonder whether it actually impinges on property rights? Surely you should have full use of your own yard?

[Greytmate]

I think it would be good to be able to walk around the streets and not have vicious dogs nearly jumping over fences trying to get you.

If people kept their dogs away from the street and stopped them being so vicious, we wouldn't need this new law. I would be happy if we had that law here. In every property I have ever lived in I keep my dogs fenced well back from the street, and have had no problems putting extra fences in, even in rental properties. To keep my dogs safe, as much as out of consideration to people walking past.

But when I try to walk my dogs around the streets, I am confronted by angry, vicious, insecure dogs that think they have to defend the whole street, and I worry that some of them will break through or get over fences to attack my dogs. They bark really loudly, and then we hear people screaming at the dogs to be quiet.

What is wrong with being required to keep a dog in a backyard? Why would you need or want your dog out the front of your house?

[dee lee]

I'm afraid I'm with Corvus and Greytmate on this.

Is it necessary for dogs to be in the front yard unsupervised? I wouldnt let my dog be, purely for her own safety. If she was aggressive I would feel even more strongly about it.

[mysticpaw]

Just interested as I had a similar conversation with Mr MP last week.

The situation was that the dog ran out of an open door across a front yard that was not fenced and onto the footpath,

while we were walking our four dogs last week. :rolleyes:

I wondered what the laws are (in NSW) regarding dogs in front yards that didn't have fences.

Can fido happily sit in the front yard of your property if he/she does not venture out onto common property?

Edited February 16, 2010 by mysticpaw

[Sheridan]

Why would anyone keep their dog in a frontyard anyway? Wouldn't a dog be safer out of sight?

[WildatHeart]

I don't like the idea, only cause i dont like the idea of having to fence 700m along the front...

[Erny]

Remember that it will be a blanket law. Not all yards are created equally. Even front yards boarded by 6 foot high non-see through solid fences wouldn't be an excuse under the law, unless acceptable fence designs are written into the law. Also, I wonder what constitutes a "front yard"? And what about corner properties? It is not as simple as it might seem and when a blanket law is being entertained, whether we think it is good or not needs to be thought out not only on behalf of ourselves but also for the circumstances of others.

[Erny]

Why would anyone keep their dog in a frontyard anyway? Wouldn't a dog be safer out of sight?

So you wouldn't have your dog have access to a well-fenced secure front yard, even when you might be inside the home? I'm not asking you personally to your OWN circumstances, because perhaps your back yard is sufficient. But if a front yard comprised a good part of your dog's exercise area, do you think the dog being out the front yard when you were simply home would not be ok?

[Sheridan]

Why would anyone keep their dog in a frontyard anyway? Wouldn't a dog be safer out of sight?

So you wouldn't have your dog have access to a well-fenced secure front yard, even when you might be inside the home? I'm not asking you personally to your OWN circumstances, because perhaps your back yard is sufficient. But if a front yard comprised a good part of your dog's exercise area, do you think the dog being out the front yard when you were simply home would not be ok?

Not to me. For the same reason, I wouldn't have a corner property or one with a back lane.

[Erny]

Yet some people have these without necessarily the luxury that you have for the choices you'd make. And they could well be impacted, if push came to shove. Apart from which, if a property is well and suitably fenced, I don't see, regardless of our own personal reasons for perhaps not doing so, why people should not be able to make use of their own property for what they want in terms of space for their dog's use.

It certainly remains our own choice whether we for our own reasons have our dogs to the backyard when we are not around. But this law is yet just another that will remove that choice, regardless of circumstance.

And this is where our laws are becoming ridiculous.

Kal, my avatar girl, used to take up her most favourite place on my front verandah. Because of my house site position, it could be argued that that is in my front yard. Very well fenced and secure. She used to love just watching life go by, whether I was home or not. It was the most favourite place for her and in the early years when my house and yard was only new, the front afforded the best protection from weather (sun, wind and rain). She was never a nuisance. I had really cranky neighbours at the time. It would have been nothing for them to have placed a complaint to council to force me to keep her to the rear yard, where she got to see nothing.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Erny

[corvus]

6ft high opaque fences are the worst! That's what went up next door when that dog finally bit someone (in trying to get to my dog). Those people have moved on and it is still a problem with the new dog! He throws himself at the fence as people walk past and gets my mum's current dogs so upset that she's copped redirected bites as a result. Just serves to build the frustration in the fenced dog and the fear in the dogs walking past.

Equally, there's a place we used to walk past that has a huge front yard with wire fences. The dogs would get so worked up when we walked our dogs past that our dogs would get anxious and we would cross the road. For ages we avoided walking past that place at all. Eventually the dogs only got access to the front yard when someone was there with them to call them off. That was when we started walking our dogs past there again.

The only potential downside I see is if you are somehow stuck in one of those houses that don't actually have a backyard, but do have a front yard. If it were me, I still wouldn't leave my dogs in the front yard while I was away. I wouldn't be game. I was thinking about this very thing the other day as there's a house on the main road I walk home on that's like this. I was thinking how nervous I'd be. It'd be like leaving my dogs in the pool yard while I was out. Probably nothing would ever happen, but I'd fret about it every time all the same.

[Jessca]

I'm gathering the city of Wyndham is a suburban council. Because if our council (Cardinia) did that I'd have to fence off our 50m property front and 40m back (where we have a fire break as we back onto a forest).

[SpikesPuppy]

Our old house had the backyard parallel to the house (was on 2 blocks- supposed to be 2 units but the owner of the blocks decided to build 1 unit and leave the other block for the backyard)... how does that work???

I will take a photo of our current house/front yard tomorrow, if I owned this place, I would be building a solid fence to enclose the bulk of the yard (but would be leaving the driveway/front door unfenced, and would leave a gap of about 2 metres between the solid fence & the front fence so the meter was still accessible (though one of our meters is in the backyard anyway :rolleyes: ). I would then replace the side fence with a gate, so my dogs could have access to both 'yards' or I could separate them if I chose to.

I agree with not leaving dogs in 'regular' front yards unsupervised (low or flimsy fences, unlocked gates etc), and by law there has to be access to your front door anyway But I do think this is overkill.

Jessca- Wyndham is Werribee/Hoppers Crossing area which has some very large blocks, some 1/4 acre or more in size. Friends used to have 1 acre 15 minute walk from the train station.

[wolfgirl]

I live in Wyndham and I reported at 6pm one night that a dog attacked my son whilst riding his bike home, we knew where the dog came from and I was told that unless the dog broke the skin and drew blood council would not be attending an after hours visit to us, my son's jeans were ripped and he was okay but very shaken and these dogs were out constantly and had quite a few complaints against them, four of them running as a pack, it took the rangers two days to come and speak to us at home.

We have dogs at large everywhere here, people walk them offlead on main roads, they say they keep so much out of our dog registration for educating the people of Wyndham, obviously that isn't working so maybe they would be better off to put their time and effort into getting loose dogs off the streets rather than worry about dogs safely contained in secure front yards

Oh and while they are at it they might like to maintain their bike tracks where the weeds are always stomach high before they cut them and maybe fix some of the main roads which are an absolute disgrace just a few important issues that could use some attention rather than trying to bring in pathetic revenue raising laws

[Odin-Genie]

I agree with Erny here. There are many houses with large front yards, but tiny back yards. This would seriously affect those who don't have the option of moving out due to these laws. I don't think it's fair that just because some people have flimsy fences and allow their dogs to roam, all dog owners should have to bear the brunt of these laws. What comes next? If someone walking by the road feels threatened because my dog is sitting by the window and looking out, I'll have to move my dog away from the front section of the house? What if neighbours feel threatened because my dog is in the backyard? Should dogs be removed from the backyards as well?

I don't like where this is going. There should be high fines for roaming dogs to stop those who aren't responsible. There should not be greater restrictions on dog ownership.

Where I live, there are quite a few dogs in the front yards. The fences are secure. They bark when I cross their houses while walking my dogs. But the barking is not vicious. I never feel threatened and it doesn't bother my dogs either.

[wolfgirl]

Here is the followup to the story which first came out last week

http://wyndham-leader.whereilive.com.au/