Dog walkers have bone to pick with proposed Tauranga City Council canine cap

Dog walker Jess Amos, of Pāpāmoa, is not in favour of the new bylaw. Photo / Andrew Warner

Tauranga dog walkers reckon a council proposal to cap the number of dogs a person can walk at once in public is barking mad and bad for business.

Tauranga City Council's draft Dog Management Bylaw limited each person to exercising two off-leash dogs or four on-leash dogs at once in public places or reserves.

The council was seeking public feedback on the bylaw, as well as its revised dog policy.

In consultation material, it said the caps were "to reduce the safety risk of dogs not being under control when being exercised".

Jess Amos, a single mum who runs Pāpāmoa dog walking service Paws and Claws said the new rules would dramatically affect her business.

"I often take up to eight or 10 dogs on walks. Some of them have been clients for six years. They're my little pack.

"With four dogs it wouldn't be worth the while. I would have to do two or three extra walks a day."

Amos said she usually exercised the dogs off leash in reserves around Tauranga rather than on the beach.

Ella Flutey, a trained vet nurse who owns two Tauranga doggie daycare centres, said there should be an exemption for professionals.

"In the summertime [a staff member] might take five or six dogs at once for a good run around on the beach.

"Professionals know dog body language - we know what we're doing," said Flutey, who has worked with dogs for eight years.

"Professional dog walkers aren't the ones who are causing issues. It's people who have one dog but it's aggressive or it attacks."

If made law, the new rule would mean she would need to either take fewer dogs or assign more staff to the task - both options that would make the dog walking service financially non-viable.

She believed the cap would affect many other dog owners as well.

Flutey said other proposed changes to the bylaw - in particular, new limitations on beach use in Pāpāmoa East - might upset dog owners who shared her view that Tauranga already had limited options for dog exercise areas, especially compared to "dog-friendly" Western Bay of Plenty.

"They have social dog walks, fun days, TECT All Terrain Park. Tauranga City Council do so little for responsible dog owners and now to be taking away even more ... They need to balance it out to keep people happy."

Submissions to the Tauranga City Council's draft Dog Management Policy and Dog Management Bylaw 2018 close at 5pm on September 17.

Read the full draft documents or make a submission on Tauranga City Council's website.

Short leash: proposed new dog rules

- No person may exercise more than two dogs off leash in a public place or reserve at once
- No person may exercise more than four dogs at any time in a public place or reserve at once
- Expand the dog ban area on Mount Maunganui main beach
- Allow dogs to be walked on leads on the beach around Ōmanu and Pāpāmoa surf lifesaving clubs
- Introduce summer 10am-5pm on-leash restriction for a stretch of beach in Pāpāmoa East
- Ban dogs within 10 metres of exercise equipment in reserves
- Ban owners from leaving dogs unattended in public (e.g. outside a shop)
- Require all dogs classified as menacing to be neutered.

- Source: Tauranga City Council