Have To Get This Off My Chest.

[Dogsfevr]

I think one of the issues is people who don't do the right thing on public ovals & pick there dog poo up.

There is no excuse for there behaviour but i as a kid when playing sports remember club members/parents having to do a poo check before we played .

We have a dog offleash oval behind us & it is now a sports oval too with training & games ,I haven't heard of any issues as yet but reality is it isn't going to work but luckily this oval is very much unknown so people use it during the day but i have no doubts many don't pick up because these same people have allowed there dogs to crap on residents front lawns & not done the right thing .

There behaviour was not acceptable ut maybe keep in mind that un like yourself who may be an excellent owner who does the right thing many more don't & sadly ruin it for others .

[kelpiecuddles]

Previous posts suggest to me that the OP has atleast one kelpie. Nothing I would consider particularly 'scary' looking. i have a kelpie and everyone seems to really like her.

[Blackdogs]

Out of interest what breed of dogs are they? Willing to bet not labs or retrievers, otherwise you prob wouldn't have been harassed. I get the same treatment when I walk my dogs past their little darlings outside the local school in the mornings.

I have a black Kelpie (who is rather large and well built for a Kelpie) and a little Schipperke. I guess black, prick-eared dogs don't always endear themselves to members of the non-dog owning public through their looks, but my dogs aren't what I would classify as 'scary looking'.

[Little Gifts]

google the clubs information & email the regulations to the club president. Explain that you would like all of the member to be made fully aware of the rights of others. You pay your rates, you're not doing anything wrong.

Excellent idea! They may lease the fields from council (probably for a pittance) for matches but when not in use it is public space and those little control freaks need to be reminded of that. What kind of damage will a dog do to the field anyway? Their toenails are more likely to aerate it and as long as you pick up any poop and your doggy has piddled around a pole (thereby saving the need for whipper snippering that spot!) then you are leaving a minimum carbon footprint on their precious field. What's more you will be making a lot less noise than they will be during playing time!

[Little Gifts]

Haven't double posted in ages!

Edited May 22, 2013 by Little Gifts

[Pailin]

Rant away. That type of bullying is uncalled for.

IMO a formal letter (or email) to the club may be your best course of action and is likely to get the most action from the club in terms of getting members to pull their head in. They can then take it up with their members by at least sending out a 'reminder' to them about the rules. And can confirm it with council if they so desire. IT may also be more 'educational' than simply confronting any belligerents with the rules (as they will not be averse to accepting that when they may take it from their club if done more formally)

The letter need only say the time and date, what the situation was and the reaction of members of the club to you (i.e. bullying). Then go on to state that after re-confirming with the council that you were within your rights and the law to use the grounds as you were, and that noting you had taken the fact that it was a shared facility into consideration by staying on the far side of the oval so not to impact on the clubs activities, you would like the club to show the same consideration to you and other users. Attach a copy of the regs to the letter for their info.

I agree with this as being the best way to approach it. ^^

[Blackdogs]

Rant away. That type of bullying is uncalled for.

IMO a formal letter (or email) to the club may be your best course of action and is likely to get the most action from the club in terms of getting members to pull their head in. They can then take it up with their members by at least sending out a 'reminder' to them about the rules. And can confirm it with council if they so desire. IT may also be more 'educational' than simply confronting any belligerents with the rules (as they will not be averse to accepting that when they may take it from their club if done more formally)

The letter need only say the time and date, what the situation was and the reaction of members of the club to you (i.e. bullying). Then go on to state that after re-confirming with the council that you were within your rights and the law to use the grounds as you were, and that noting you had taken the fact that it was a shared facility into consideration by staying on the far side of the oval so not to impact on the clubs activities, you would like the club to show the same consideration to you and other users. Attach a copy of the regs to the letter for their info.

I agree with this as being the best way to approach it. ^^

That's a really good idea actually. I just hope it won't promote meeting discussion about lobbying for greater restrictions.

[kelpiecuddles]

Use the 'shit sandwich' formula to try to keep them onside. Start by talking about how greaat the facility is, then talk about the problem and finish by telling them how great it is that everyone is able to enjoy the park or something to that effect. Always end on a positive so they feel positive about the letter.

[Blackdogs]

You must have a very liberal council. In my council, if a club has booked a venue then no dogs are allowed off leash, as the venue has been booked and paid for by the club. I agree with espinay2 - a letter with the regs attached is the best way to go. I wouldn't confront them in person because I wouldn't want to risk a mob with my dog.

If it had been the case that they were using or planning to use the facility then I would have hope that they would have communicated that to me respectfully so that I had a chance to gracefully accommodate, but instead I was barraged with claims of leash law breaking and public property destruction.

[Blackdogs]

Use the 'shit sandwich' formula to try to keep them onside. Start by talking about how greaat the facility is, then talk about the problem and finish by telling them how great it is that everyone is able to enjoy the park or something to that effect. Always end on a positive so they feel positive about the letter.

Heh. That's a very good idea.

[Steph M]

Shit sandwich, what a great term. Haha.

[kiesha09]

What a bunch of pr*cks. I would have told them to go and **** themselves.

Report them for harrassment.

I definitely will if it happens again. My dogs are highly socialised with children, but even so I would never allow them to approach a strange child. It frustrates me that people who try to do the right thing with their dogs are still victimised. Thanks for your input.

It's ridiculous, it's like the lady that tells my colleagues off when they park on the street in front of her house (my work doesn't have off street parking). We keep telling her the council owns the street....does she get it? Nope.

Very frustrating, and there's just no reason to act that way towards someone, whether you like dogs or not.

We used to take our two to an offleash oval that sounds similar, two ovals about 200 metres away from each other. Lili is normnally 100% with her recall, but once ran into the middle of a game and went for the ball , our bad and of course we apologised profusely, but everyone just laughed it off.

Why do people have to be so aggressive and intolerant these days?

Hah. reminds me of when I used to park outside of my own house and the neighbours didn't like it because they had to be careful about backing out with their boat. I had nowhere else to park so continued to do so. One day they deliberately rammed by car three times and wrote it off and I had to get the police involved.

I don't understand the intolerance either. Why can't we just be respectful of each other and communicate decently?

I was on this very oval a year or so ago when a boy approached with his soccer ball wanting to play with my dog. I saw his parents in the distance who seemed ok, so I said yes. So my dog and the boy played soccer for about five minutes (the kid was laughing so hard and having the best time) when the father started screaming frantically at the boy to get away from 'that animal', came over and glared at me and dragged the kid away. The poor boy was almost in tears. People need to learn to relax!

My Nan was similar in regards to people parking outside her house, so pestered the council for months until they put up no parking signs in front of her house. Heh irony is, she got fined for parking outside of her own house whilst taking in shopping :laugh: Her response was "But it's my own house" my reply "Well no parking means no parking and it includes you".

I swear your Nan could be my neighbour!! Exact same thing happened to my little old neighbour. She had asked us once or twice not to park in front of her house which we didn't but sometimes our guests did. So she pestered the council until they put up no parking signs. She also got a no parking fine :laugh:

[SchnauzerMax]

The crazy dog-hating lady's statement rings a bell but it's not 'public' land. If I remember correctly it's 'Commonwealth owned' land.

The law changed a few years ago. The only reason I remember is that when it changed one of the security guards at my local University tried to rather aggressively enforce it.

He wasn't very successful because none of his colleagues would help him. He tried to detain one of my neighbours - a little old lady with 2 SWF for being offleash.

He actually called for backup and his colleagues arrived and took him away instead :laugh:

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Blackdogs

Me and a lot of my dog owning friends are in very similar situation. Our local park is next to a primary school. There is also a playground - that the school uses but is on council land. The park (and the school grounds) was donated by a founding father of the state - for the enjoyment of the residents of the suburb.

The sports clubs that use it, and the school - have very large number of members that are not residents of the suburb or even the council area.

One particular sports club we have lots of problems with - whether walking dogs or trying to use the space for anything else - because their sport is dangerous. And yet they have a state wide lobby group that harasses our council and councillors - one time - quite directly - 40 of them showed up to a council meeting and asked for and got - more time on the oval - at the expense of residents and against the wishes of the ward reps. Sigh.

We're still fighting this battle - but letting your ward reps (councillors) know directly what happened, will get the club to pull its head in and at least be polite to you - tho they will likely lobby to get rid of dogs altogether and it's up to you to organise people who own dogs in the area to fight this. Which can be as simple as a letter box drop with a flyer outlining the actual rules about who owns the oval and the usage rules - as the council has supplied you. You'd be amazed how many people accept being harassed by ignorant sports participants as gospel. And letting them know they can use the park too often evens up the numbers considerably. We got 300 people to respond in one round of public consultation - tho we still haven't gotten what we want. It did get at least the local ward reps on our side.

Trouble is we need to get at least 3 more sets of ward reps voting on our side to get what we want. It's possible - we've got enough dog owners in their wards to do it.

We get quite a few sports clubs stealing the use of the oval without permission that doesn't help the balance required (but ignored) between sports clubs and residents informal use. But we report them, with photos...

[The Spotted Devil]

What a shame!

I often train my dogs at the local sports ovals if they are free and, if there's a cross-over with kids sports I always tell them I'll get out of their way (often have to pack up agility equipment). They always say "no, that's fine we're just setting up" and everyone is happy. Sometimes the kids will come and watch and I'll explain what I'm doing - keeps everyone smiling.

[Missymoo]

take some friends and their dogs and have an obedience lesson :) Then a picnic and raise your glass to them ;) LOL

[Steph M]

I always loved that as a kid, any excuse to have a chat to a cool dog!

[Staff'n'Toller]

Before you submit your letter to the sporting committee, confirm with your council about their lease arrangements.

I have been accosted whilst taking a training class with council's blessing at a local soccer oval, and it turned out that their hire agreement was for midday-5pm and it was not yet 11am on that particular day.

Let them know in your letter that you are well aware of their lease agreement times and what area/s is included in that lease. ;)

[Kirislin]

Before you submit your letter to the sporting committee, confirm with your council about their lease arrangements.

I have been accosted whilst taking a training class with council's blessing at a local soccer oval, and it turned out that their hire agreement was for midday-5pm and it was not yet 11am on that particular day.

Let them know in your letter that you are well aware of their lease agreement times and what area/s is included in that lease. ;)

You've reminded me of something that happened at our park. It's a designated off leash dog park but one Saturday morning there was a big footy match and they had security bailing up anyone walking their dogs and said they couldn't walk around the top part of the grounds.

[pebbles]

I was parked in a security guarded area one cold evening. Dogs in their crates with their coats, water and a biscuit with them. Get a call to go to my car. Security guy then told me I couldn't park there with dogs in the car. Very rude. wouldn't listen to me. Left, phoned re the State regs next day, downloaded a copy and had great satisfaction in showing them in writing next time he tried it again a few weeks later.