Where Can Our Dogs Go?

[raineth]

I was thinking a few months ago that one possibility could be to allow dogs and owners who have their canine good citizen award (or an equivalent) to have increased access.

This way responsible owners with well behaved pets would be rewarded for the effort they have put in, and be able to more easily include their dog in daily activities.

It also means that some of the problems associated with increased access would be avoided.

[trojka]

It was a shock when we move over from England we could not take our dog anywhere we have to go and ask if we could sit outside with him only one place said yes some f the others said only if he was A little dog (he was a big long haired German Shepard ) so we stopped taking him places which made us sad

Isn't it a shock.

35 years living in England & 25 years here & as far as pets are concerned its like being on another planet. So much fuss & rules made over it all & it does not make for better or more responsible owners. Or better pets. The general intolerance & expectations from cats & dogs can be a shock & popularity & the way some pet birds are kept, a lifetime in a tiny cage not big enough for a walk or wing stretch & out in extreme heat is horrid.

No country is perfect & people have different ideas about rights & wrongs but I would like dogs to be welcome in more places & not perceived as dangerous beasts so much.

That, to me, is the point. It doesn't work. And it seems that all the posters that have spent enough time overseas, or even lived there, agree on this.

I was thinking a few months ago that one possibility could be to allow dogs and owners who have their canine good citizen award (or an equivalent) to have increased access.

This way responsible owners with well behaved pets would be rewarded for the effort they have put in, and be able to more easily include their dog in daily activities.

It also means that some of the problems associated with increased access would be avoided.

This sounds like a very good idea that might be a step in the right direction. It may encourage more people to train their dogs and make them well behaved members of society, giving them and their owners more freedom. And this, again, may help reduce some of the misconceptions and prejudices non-dog-owners have towards dogs being in public places.

What annoys me the most is the public transport issue. I live in a biggish country town, but not in the center. My car has just broken down (again, but that's another story) and I have no way of even getting my dog into town. I also have no way of going down to Melbourne to visit friends, because, again, I cannot get my dog on the train (even though if I could get him to Melbourne, I could apparently take him on the train and tram there). I obviously won't leave him alone for that time either, so I am technically stuck here. If my dog needs to get to the vet in an emergency, I can only hope and pray that a friend or neighbour will be available soon enough, or that I can find a taxi driver willing to take a dog in his car.

I am still trying to find a way to get around the VLine issue, so if anyone has an idea, please let me know.

With cafes I haven't really encountered any problems, but it has honestly never crossed my mind to ask, either. The only time I give a cafe a miss is when they don't have tables outside, or only in the courtyard (meaning I'd have to be able to walk my dog through the cafe to get there). But then I'm a smoker as well, so like to sit outside anyway. My dog lies quietly under the table the whole time I'm there and doesn't bother anyone, so I don't see how anyone could have a problem with that, and I have never encountered someone who has.

When I used to take my girl I had when still living in Europe on the tram/train/bus or to a restaurant, she would lie under my seat or the table and nobody even noticed she was there. Here, when people comment on how well behaved my dog is for just lying there, I find it rather amusing, because to me, that's just normal.

For dog friendly accommodation, I have found takeabreak.com.au very helpful. You can specifically look for pet friendly places, and most of them also describe what they mean by that. I have found many that let dogs stay inside and/or have fenced yards.

[sas]

Also, in Europe dogs live inside with their families. When the family is at work, the dog is loose in the house or crated. When there are visitors over, the dogs are inside the house and have to interact properly with visitors. They don't just put them out in the backyard because they have people over, so once again they get more socialisation.

This brings a smile to my face... we often had funny looks when we just moved to Australia because ours are indoors. One time we had an old friend from my husband over for dinner with his wife and 2 kids and when we started eating the dogs were just lying quiet under the table. No begging no nothing. Then 1 of the sons (about 8) said "dont you think we should bring the dogs outside when we are eating"......uhhhhhhhh NO, this is the dogs house as well and this is what they are used to.

People are allowed to smoke inside here as well which often has the same effect

I like your house,from a dog loving smoker.

Eeek that's a whole different thread.....making non-smokers including the dogs inhale cigarette smoke.

[Guest]

Oh, YES. Details, PLEASE!!!

I think that dogs can go plenty of places in Australia, you just have to make the effort to take them.

If the dogs are with us and we need to eat lunch, and there are no dog friendly places around, we just buy the food then find somewhere outside to eat it (or in the car if we have to). I take the dogs to hubby's sports games. They go to dog club and also to obedience trials. We go to dog off leash areas and reserves. They get walks around the suburbs, past the shops, meet the locals and their dogs. They often come on holidays with us - plenty of dog friendly accommodation these days.

Hmmm... even the term "pet friendly" is apparently different to what I think of as friendly, though. I have just gone through the process of trying to book a place for a few days, and one real estate agent was most offended when I commented that I did not think that a property which didn't allow dogs inside at all, even crated, and had only wire stock fencing should be advertised as dog friendly. When I asked for a listing of other dog-friendly properties on their books only one of about 15 allowed dogs inside, and a lot of them where in built-up areas. Just what I'd want as a neighbor - a visiting dog barking overnight because it doesn't understand why it's outside!

I do agree on that point... I always contact them to find out their conditions and fencing. Sure you have to look around, but we have stayed at heaps of places that have let the dogs inside (just counting them... probably around 8 different places now). Some have bent their rules to let our dogs be crated inside, or not in the bedrooms, or if we vacuum afterwards, etc

Totally agree. I find most properties in the fine print say "small dog only" or "outside dog only". This is not pet friendly!!! If you want your dog inside it means they are house trained. Wouldn't there be just as much chance of a child doing damage to the property that there would a dog!!

I have bee lucky to find a person who had 2 holiday house close to a dog friendly beach and his houses are actually dog friendly. Dpgs are allowed inside, in the pool and he has not rules about the size or number of dogs. This is pet friendly!!!

Are they in QLD??

If so can you PM me details as I would love something like that. When I can afford to take a holiday

[Christina]

I was thinking a few months ago that one possibility could be to allow dogs and owners who have their canine good citizen award (or an equivalent) to have increased access.

This way responsible owners with well behaved pets would be rewarded for the effort they have put in, and be able to more easily include their dog in daily activities.

It also means that some of the problems associated with increased access would be avoided.

Oh no. Not another revenue raiser, it won't come for free. More licences, certificate, papers, rules, whatever. It will become so hard to own a dog that in the end no one will bother except maybe the moron types who do what they want regardless.

[raineth]

I was thinking a few months ago that one possibility could be to allow dogs and owners who have their canine good citizen award (or an equivalent) to have increased access.

This way responsible owners with well behaved pets would be rewarded for the effort they have put in, and be able to more easily include their dog in daily activities.

It also means that some of the problems associated with increased access would be avoided.

Oh no. Not another revenue raiser, it won't come for free. More licences, certificate, papers, rules, whatever. It will become so hard to own a dog that in the end no one will bother except maybe the moron types who do what they want regardless.

why would it be hard?

If you don't want extra access you don't bother.

For people who already go to training clubs, show, or compete with their dogs it would be hardly any extra work at all.

If you do want extra access it would be worth the bit of exrta effort.

[Aetherglow]

I have traveled around Australia a few times and I find it to be very dog friendly, it is a bit hard in cities and around national parks though, but that's okay for us though as we don't go near cities or National parks. I would like to go to some national parks but the reason why dogs are not allowed even on leads is that when a dog leaves it's mark on the trail it disturbs the native animals and it is there habitat and we have to respect that. We are lucky, we live in a small town where our dog is welcome in the newsagent, hardware and the surf shop, it's against the law to have a dog inside where they serve food, but all the cafe's and pub's allow dogs outside. Dog's are allowed on most beaches, we have more of a problem with human poo at some of the beaches ie: Wicked vans free camping get up in the morning and crap on the track to the beach. We have over 200 places offering accommodation in town about 20 of them are dog friendly(we own one of these) to different extents, half of them are very friendly the other half I would say that they will tolerate your dog to get your business. You have got to understand also that a business is put in a pet friendly category because it allows dogs it is up to you to sort out what level of dog friendly you want, there are a lot of cars that are categorized as 4wd's but you would not take them off road. If a place of accommodation has rules you don't like move on to the next one, we have our rules and we consider them to be common sense,when we first opened we had people ring up and ask us to bend the rules and being real softies we would, and most of our bad experiences have come from people we have bent the rules for. So that is why some places seem not so dog friendly, it is just what they are comfortable with but they need to advertise in a category so you know they at least allow dogs. I thought I would just give you a bit of a view from the other side.

It must be frustrating from the accomodation provider's point of view to have to deal with those who don't respect others' property, that's for sure. That's a whole different discussion about why people are so inconsiderate though! I'm just going from my recent experience, and I did have other requirements for the accomodation as well - it had to be suitable for two couples, not one couple and kids, for a start. In the end I booked a place down your way, and I'm choosing to leave my dog with my parents, partially because of the general inability to find a place that would let her inside at night even in her crate, and partially for other reasons. Leaving her outside at night in the cold and wet wouldn't be fun for the neighbors, me or her, and I am rather disappointed.

In a broader way, I also find the general lack of rental properties which allow pets rather offensive. It's not a problem for me, but it's tragic how often you hear of pets having to be surrendered because the owners have had to move and couldn't find a rental property which allowed them to bring the dog or cat. I knew someone who was refused permission to get a pet turtle in a tank, and had a surprise inspection from the real estate agent the week after the request was refused to check that they didn't actually have the turtle!

[Mel@Marengo]

I have traveled around Australia a few times and I find it to be very dog friendly, it is a bit hard in cities and around national parks though, but that's okay for us though as we don't go near cities or National parks. I would like to go to some national parks but the reason why dogs are not allowed even on leads is that when a dog leaves it's mark on the trail it disturbs the native animals and it is there habitat and we have to respect that. We are lucky, we live in a small town where our dog is welcome in the newsagent, hardware and the surf shop, it's against the law to have a dog inside where they serve food, but all the cafe's and pub's allow dogs outside. Dog's are allowed on most beaches, we have more of a problem with human poo at some of the beaches ie: Wicked vans free camping get up in the morning and crap on the track to the beach. We have over 200 places offering accommodation in town about 20 of them are dog friendly(we own one of these) to different extents, half of them are very friendly the other half I would say that they will tolerate your dog to get your business. You have got to understand also that a business is put in a pet friendly category because it allows dogs it is up to you to sort out what level of dog friendly you want, there are a lot of cars that are categorized as 4wd's but you would not take them off road. If a place of accommodation has rules you don't like move on to the next one, we have our rules and we consider them to be common sense,when we first opened we had people ring up and ask us to bend the rules and being real softies we would, and most of our bad experiences have come from people we have bent the rules for. So that is why some places seem not so dog friendly, it is just what they are comfortable with but they need to advertise in a category so you know they at least allow dogs. I thought I would just give you a bit of a view from the other side.

It must be frustrating from the accomodation provider's point of view to have to deal with those who don't respect others' property, that's for sure. That's a whole different discussion about why people are so inconsiderate though! I'm just going from my recent experience, and I did have other requirements for the accomodation as well - it had to be suitable for two couples, not one couple and kids, for a start. In the end I booked a place down your way, and I'm choosing to leave my dog with my parents, partially because of the general inability to find a place that would let her inside at night even in her crate, and partially for other reasons. Leaving her outside at night in the cold and wet wouldn't be fun for the neighbors, me or her, and I am rather disappointed.

In a broader way, I also find the general lack of rental properties which allow pets rather offensive. It's not a problem for me, but it's tragic how often you hear of pets having to be surrendered because the owners have had to move and couldn't find a rental property which allowed them to bring the dog or cat. I knew someone who was refused permission to get a pet turtle in a tank, and had a surprise inspection from the real estate agent the week after the request was refused to check that they didn't actually have the turtle!

I see your problem trying to find accommodation for 2 couples, that is a market that we have noticed that is lacking. So anyone thinking of getting into the business that is a niche market. Unfortunately promising to keep dog in a create does not quite cut it, we once had a breeder(so he said) who promised to keep the dog crated as this was where it was happiest anyway, as we had reservations, we thought being a breeder they would be responsible pet owners, well they loved there dog, enough so they slept with it under the doona the stains from the slobber and the hair in the bed told the story. We don't get many people like that though, we let dogs in the room and on the couches, just not on the beds or in the bath(scratches), I wish it was a perfect world cause then we wouldn't need rules or boundaries would we.

[Monah]

I"m english, never had outside pets nor had any friends who had outside pets even though we all emigrated here quite young and grew up here. The 'culture' came with us Flame me now for being a whinging Pom!! I loathe the lack of dog friendly things in Aust. I've recently returned from UK, and had a very 'doggy' time with friends and in general. Examples of 'normal' there (all UK) are that dogs were allowed in all national parks, all fields/paddocks even with stock (I guess as long as the stock are not hassled), I went puffin hunting(photography, not killing!) and yep, heaps of people with dogs there too, every single pub I ate in I shared my 'table' with several dogs, or couch, every B & B allowed dogs in fact a spinone weekend was on in NOrfolk and there were hundreds of spins staying in all the b and bs, pubs, hotels etc. NORMAL. they were even allowed on beds if you put your own sheet over the cover first. Dogs were on trains, busses, taxis, even at most of the tourist places we went. the only place I saw that asked not to take dogs in was a car museum and it had a purpose built area with water bowls and tie ups and shade for dogs while you went in. All places that dogs could go had special areas and even kennels in case you needed to leave them for an hour or so. Imagine how terrific this would be in Aust at places like Kakadu etc. I know many people who travel with their dogs and when they hit a national park may have to kennel their dogs hundreds of ks away while they sightsee!!!

I had many b and b owners dogs spend the night in my bed (missed dogs!! )

It was so refreshing having no complaints from people when there were dogs in pubs or anywhere else. I told a woman who had 3 dogs on a couch in the pub that we cannot do that and she was very shocked and said 'do you have rabies there?' as she just could not get her head around it at all. I said No, we're just ignorant!

It seems that 70 million UKers have not karked it from having dogs near their food or beds! We must have very low immune systems!

Edited July 8, 2011 by Monah

[Sooky]

Great post monah

[raineth]

That's awesome Monah! especially the Soin bit

I so can't imagine it happening here! (wish it would though!)

OT but I was at the uni today and did a double take when I saw a picture of a Spin balancing on a ball, on a noticeboard!

[RubyStar]

I think if I moved to the UK with my dogs it would feel very weird taking them places! But I am sure I would get over it quickly, as it would be really great to have a pub meal with my girls at my feet, might make me go to the pub more! Might even meet a dog loving fella ;) Taking them to pubs and on public transport are some of the best in my eyes, wish we had that here too.

Edited July 8, 2011 by RubyStar

[Sasby]

I am lucky enough to live close to Rouse Hill shopping centre in which dogs are allowed and they have water bowls and plastic bags for poop removal available. The shopping centre itself is all open which is why they avoid the normal shopping centre rules. The shops won't let the dogs in mostly though.

As for accommodation it is very hard for us to go away with the dogs. Most won't take 3x 30kg dogs and we have friends who we want to go away with who have 2x 30kg dogs themselves. It is impossible to find a secure yarded house in which the dogs are allowed inside and they allow 5 dogs and 4 people!

I would like to know about any restaurants nearby that would allow dogs. As I like to take them out and have them socialised somewhere other than the dog park.

[jr_inoz]

I was thinking a few months ago that one possibility could be to allow dogs and owners who have their canine good citizen award (or an equivalent) to have increased access.

This way responsible owners with well behaved pets would be rewarded for the effort they have put in, and be able to more easily include their dog in daily activities.

It also means that some of the problems associated with increased access would be avoided.

Oh no. Not another revenue raiser, it won't come for free. More licences, certificate, papers, rules, whatever. It will become so hard to own a dog that in the end no one will bother except maybe the moron types who do what they want regardless.

why would it be hard?

If you don't want extra access you don't bother.

For people who already go to training clubs, show, or compete with their dogs it would be hardly any extra work at all.

If you do want extra access it would be worth the bit of exrta effort.

I like the idea.

Most councils in SA have a reduction in registration for a trained dog. You have to show a certificate to show that it has reached a certain level of training. This could just be broadened a bit more.

[ness]

The council reduction in registration for a "trained dog" in SA is a joke. My young BC can't get the reduction because she never went through the levels at club despite the fact she has ANKC titles and passes towards titles which would be of a greater level then the standard required by council. I tried last year and wasn't successful might try and speak with somebody higher up in council this year. Its only $5 extra but its more the principle that pisses me off.

[OSoSwift]

I was wonderin about that Ness, Bloody stupid isn't it

[Monah]

sleepy dog Hythe pub England

My first Large Musterlander cuddle ever, Danny who shared my dinner! Kincraig, Cairngorm mountains Scotland.

Most times I did not have my camera handy but I have a few pics. Also had weis estrela mountain dogs in Llanberris, Mt Snowdon, heaps of other pub and b & b dogs who I did not get a photo opportunity with..

random pics of dogs in tourist spots 'sightseeing'

THis girl was sunbathing in the middle of Bruges with her 2 westies, love the pram!!

[Monah]

this is IN Salisbury Cathedral..

New Forest

Lord Montagu's doggy graveyard and one of the lovely headstones...

Edited July 10, 2011 by Monah

[Monah]

love that DOGS are included with people!

In the Donkey Sanctuary

Sharing our cream tea with a newfie girl on the moors in devon!!

Hardy the springer, Cornwall B and B..

[Monah]

Lola the airedale, restaraunt dog Bodmin Moor,

splah...

Tam O shanter, cocker, he became my 'attachment' in Kelso, scotland, b & b.

hopping on the Heartbeat train, Goathland yorkshire..this guys wife had 2 more beagles..they were all gorgeous.