Put your dog on a leash in the park if you don?t want it to get injured.

[Louisa]

Ignoring the content of the thread for a moment. It does seem strange that lots of people open a thread on the forum, which is clearly going to cause a polarised timebomb of same old in fighting and squabbling. Meanwhile, they wander off and don?t comment again for a while. Just a thought!

Louisa.

[nxjen]

Yep my thoughts exactly. I see Admin has quickly lounged another thread like that

[Abe_froeman]

I think incidents like this are a real shame for responsible dog owners because the inevitable consequence is more draconian restrictions and enforcement of dog owners using parks.

If all dog owners respected the rules of public places, picked up their dogs excrement and trained their dogs properly in the first place, then there would be a lot less of the sort of antagonism and distrust that is evident in this thread between dog owners and other people.

[tiddles]

I think we all have to respect and be aware in shared spaces, but there is also confusion about on and off lead areas.

As i understand it, in dulwich park the main circuit and anywhere outside of this are

Off lead, anywhere in side is on lead.

Similarly the hire bikes are not allowed inside this area.

[taper]

Dogs are allowed off the lead on the road and horse track aren't they? Most areas inside the track (although not all) require your dog to go on the lead. When the sun brings lots of cyclists out though it is pretty crowded on the road and you need to exercise more control over your dog than you would normally

[chuff]

Rendellharris

Just wanted to let you know that dogs are allowed off lead on the path and the 'road'. Have a check on the Southwark bye laws document. The on lead areas are the central areas by the cafe and the pond and sports pitches when in use.

The path and road are for everyone, yes it can be chaotic at times but generally people muddle along and apologise for any mishaps. The banana bikes for me are the most dangerous thing!

Anyway, not wanting to start an extra argument, but I have noticed a lot of people think that dogs are meant to be on a lead on the main pathway. Signs are very misleading in Dulwich Park.

[chuff]

Ah, I posted replying to page 1 stupidly without seeing page 2.

Forgive me as I've repeated what others have pointed out.

[taper]

It is confusing. The signs are ambiguous. But I'm pretty sure the road and horse track are off lead. I've always thought the inner fields around the playground and bowling green are OK too. Plus the large road through the middle of the park. But i'm not entirely sure.

[chuff]

Yes Taper, that's how I've interpreted the byelaws pdf.

I have two dogs, kids, bikes and all the annoying things you can encounter in a park so made a point to check the rules.

I actually had a similar situation to the OP but it was my stupid little dog not looking the right way. A young child was bombing it along on his bike being clapped by his parents and my dog was standing in his line which caused him to panic and fall off. She didn't go up to him, she was just looking the other way and didn't move.

I apologised even though it wasn't really my dogs fault and the parents were fine, acknowledged he was actually cycling too fast as he'd just started riding and everything was fine.

Mostly people are fine, accidents happen etc

[Jennys]

Perhaps it would be worth pointing out this thread to Southwark Council and to the Dulwich Society so unambiguous and very visible notices could be put up in all the local parks.

[rendelharris]

chuff Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Rendellharris

>

> Just wanted to let you know that dogs are allowed

> off lead on the path and the 'road'. Have a check

> on the Southwark bye laws document. The on lead

> areas are the central areas by the cafe and the

> pond and sports pitches when in use.

Fair enough if that's the case, but I would have thought in the interests of the dog to keep them off the road anyway no matter what the regs - given that there are small children learning to cycle, skateboarders etc as well as, I admit, some adults who ride through at silly speeds.

[chuff]

Hi Rendel

One of my dogs is disabled, she has to go in a pram (it looks ridiculous). It also means I have to stay on the path or the road mostly. If the ground is very dry then we can use the outside track and stay out of the way but since Thames Water have diverted a lot of the ground water, it's becoming increasingly difficult to use that outer track.

I'd love to stay away from the banana bikes, too many bashed ankles to mention.

[rendelharris]

Strongcoffee Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Haha, rendle likes to point the finger,

> Wants everyone to agree, calls people trolls,

> Live and let live and be thankful, that we

> have a website for local discussions.

> This is why Donald Trump hasn?t got the nuclear

> codes

> , because imagine Rendel having them??

> Hahaha

What are you, five years old? Haven't heard such pathetic nonsense since teaching primary school.

[JoeLeg]

1/10, dull...there?s been much better trolls on here.

[Penguin68]

Ideally, surely, all users of shared and public spaces should use them taking care not to injure etc. other users. Where they are not trained, educated etc. etc. to be careful themselves, then others with responsibility for them should ensure they act properly. Over numbers of years I have had children bump in to me, dogs bounce me, cyclists and skateboarders etc. make me jump out of the way and so on. Sometimes the risks and ensuing unpleasantness has been worse than others. Everyone should be considerate, no one should be acting as in some way privileged or exempt from acting with consideration (small children and untrained dogs become the responsibility of those in care of them). Even where it is in the bye-laws that you can have dogs off the lead, cycle or skateboard, run or jog - this doesn't then allow or excuse you to hurt, knock in to or scare others.

Accidents can of course still happen, but those causing the accident (or having responsibility for the primary agent in the accident) need both to be aware that they are at fault, and work to avoid such accidents in the future. If they don't, then they deserve condemnation. 'My dog jumped up and knocked you over - but I don't need to have him on a lead here so that's OK - I'm not at fault' will simply NOT do.

[apples]

LD929 - sorry to hear of your bad experience on what was a beautiful weekend in Dulwich park, lots of people were out there enjoying the good weather.

Areas in the park are quite clearly signposted by Southwark, many of them regulate dogs. I believe dogs aren't allowed in the children' play area, tennis courts or the nature bridge across one end of the pond and only on a short lead in parts e.g. the path around the lake. If the collision happened there dogs should at least be on a lead, but all cyclists should also take care and be mindful of pedestrians, including those with four legs.

The main path was once a road and pavement around most of the park perimeter. There are signs at the main gates: 5mph speed limit roundel 'Shared use route' 'Give way to pedestrians' and a blue circle (mandatory) sign with silhouettes: pedestrian adult+child, dog (a terrier off the lead) and cycle, all standard road symbols. The land outside this perimeter road is called the 'dog exercise area'.

It was an unfortunate accident I know, but if a dog collided with your bike or your daughters bike in that 'Shared use route' and if it was injured, I would see it as being your responsibility not the dog owner.

[rendelharris]

> It was an unfortunate accident I know, but if a

> dog collided with your bike or your daughters bike

> in that 'Shared use route' and if it was injured,

> I would see it as being your responsibility not

> the dog owner. And maybe rather than expressing

> your anger here you could pay or contribute to any

> vet bill?

I can't quite believe what I've just read. OK, so it's a shared use area. That means shared responsibility. Someone's dog jumped at a six year old girl and knocked her off her bike, if the dog's injured mum/dad should pay for the vet's bill? Just to reiterate, the child didn't run into to the dog, the dog ran into the child. How in blue blazes does that make any injury the dog sustained the parent's responsibility?

[flocker spotter]

This thread is nuts.

[apples]

Sorry I didn't mean it to sound quite like that! It is quite clearly signed and someone's pet has been injured.

[rendelharris]

apples Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sorry I didn't mean it to sound quite like that!

> It is quite clearly signed and someone's pet has

> been injured.

Well yes, because the pet's owner didn't keep it sufficiently under control to stop it knocking the little girl off her bike. I still can't see how that in any way makes the vet's bill the parent's responsibility! If the child was cycling in a no-cycling area, yes, but as you say yourself, it's shared use - onus on parents not to let their children run into dogs, onus on dog owners not to let their dogs knock children off their bikes, no?

[flocker spotter]

utterly nuts. is it a full moon ?

Why the urge to assign blame for every single incident. Get a grip.

[Calsug]

Apples - really!?!?

I could say so much more but this thread is nuts

Both parents and dog owners need to control and supervise - it is as simple as that.

[hammerman]

Really hope the OP (active on the forum this morning) comes back to give their point of view about the responses!

[apples]

OK, I deleted that last line above, you're right that's nuts (sorry OP, there, I never said it!).

Cyclists regularly go faster than 5mph in Dulwich park, although LD929 plus his six year old were probably doing much less. Everyone should look out for each other and enjoy the park.

I'd say the road signs are well placed, so if you're on a bike you need to be aware of dogs running around the shared road, pavement and dog exercise area and slow down / give way accordingly. Council vehicles and delivery vans in the park keep below 5mph on that road and give way to every creature.

Dogs are pretty restricted in the parts of the park they can run free, they need a safe place to have fun and exercise without risk of injury too!

[Louisa]

hammerman Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Really hope the OP (active on the forum this

> morning) comes back to give their point of view

> about the responses!

Why get in the way of a good thread?

Louisa.