You Expect Decency And Consideration?

Mark Stephens, of Bynea, had demanded action be taken over pet owners who he says let their animals run riot at the ponds along the Millennium Coastal Park, as well as at Furnace and Swiss Valley.

Claiming he has been sworn at and abused as he attempts to fish peacefully, Mr Stephens has had enough.

"There are anglers trying to fish and dog walkers are abusing us," he said. "We are paying £30 a year for our licences, so we have just as much right to be there as they do.

"It has been a problem on the coastal path for about two or three years, but it's also happening at Furnace and Swiss Valley.

"We've even had a dog swallow a hook because it came running up and started eating the bait. We couldn't stop it and it ate the hook.

"My friend had one of his rods broken when a dog ran through it in Swiss Valley too.

"The dog walkers are getting out of control."

And, not unreasonably, he looks to ‘the authorities’ (who are, after all, charging him money) to resolve this. Just like everyone seems to, these days…

Mr Stephens has complained about the issue to Carmarthenshire Council, asking for an order to be put in place preventing dog owners from letting their pets run off the lead. But he is not optimistic that anything will be done.

"They've washed their hands of it," he said.

"They said they're not going to look into it, but I know they can do it."

Indeed they can do something, if the ‘backlash’ from the dog owners isn’t too heavy. We will see this in a minute.

A Carmarthenshire Council spokesman said: "Fishermen and women are asked to be responsible about discarded tackle and dog owners are asked to keep dogs under control or on leads.

"Cyclists are asked to be careful of pedestrians and runners and vice versa and kids are asked to refrain from jumping into the dock.

"We can only ask people to behave and act appropriately in the respect of decency and consideration."

Well, you can ask, sure. But sadly, in addition to becoming a nation of sheep scared of their own shadow, we’ve also become (paradoxically) a nation ever more aware of, and demanding of, our rights to do as we please no matter the cost to others:

Owner Roger Utley has taken the lead with a new campaign to keep dogs running free. The 61-year-old has whipped up a protest over one part of the Stroud District Council's proposed new dog control orders.

He regularly exercises his black Labrador Inka off the lead around the quiet back lanes of Bisley.

He said that if the "onerous" and "wide-ranging" restrictions in the draft orders were passed he and Inka's outings would have to be on the lead in future.

And these ‘onerous and wide ranging restrictions’ he’s bleating about?

Why, just the requirement that, when near roads, he keep his dog on a lead. That’s all. It’s the sort of thing nine out of ten sensible dog owners do as a matter of course. After all, you may have a ‘quiet road’ you know well, but you never really know when that can change, and who wants to be the owner of a squashed dog or the cause of a road traffic accident?

Well, clearly, Mr Utley is prepared to take that risk:

Retired plumber Mr Utley said responsible dog owners would have no difficulty with the order's other requirements to scoop poop and keep dogs out of children's play areas.

But he has a problem with a proposal to make it an offence to have a dog off a lead on any public road, pavement or grass verge which is within 4m of the carriageway, maintained at public expense and subject to a speed limit of 40mph or less.

And he’s using the sort of argument against it you’d think I’d be happy to support:

"It has produced a strong reaction among our dog owners, many of who have emailed the district council to protest," said Mr Utley.

"This may look like a storm in a teacup but, at its heart, it's another example of lazy law making. Faced with a small number of people indulging in anti-social behaviour, the solution is to impose a wide-ranging restriction on the freedom of the law abiding majority."

But I’m afraid I’m not, for once, going to agree that this is an awful imposition on the freedom of dog lovers to let their pets run free.

Because responsible dog owners don’t do that in the first place. Our dogs were never, ever off the lead in the street.

Mr Utley said dog owners had long exercised their pets off the lead without a problem in most village back roads.

Just because you’ve always done something doesn’t mean it’s right.

But I suppose since decency and consideration for others are now passé, Mt Utley will get his way. And Mr Stephens will go on paying money to a council that takes it yet does nothing in return for it…