Two other dogs fell ill after walking at Otamatea

Dog walkers want to know what killed a dog that had been walking at the popular Otamatea Reserve last week.

Whanganui dog walkers who use the Otamatea Reserve say they should be told what happened to the dog that died after walking in the popular park.

The Whanganui District Council has been warning dog owners to keep pets away from Otamatea Reserve or at least on a leash, after the dog died of unknown causes following a visit to the area.

The dog had been sent to Massey University for tests but it isn't known whether the results would be made public.

The Wanganui Dog Obedience Club is based out of Otamatea Reserve and its president, Kathy Kerr, said there had been a lot of rumour-mongering over the weekend and a clear explanation as to what happened was needed.

"We did have a couple of our own dogs that took sick and were just vomiting on Thursday night after training and Friday training.

"We don't want to know any person's details or anything like that but it would be helpful to everybody concerned if we know whether it was poison or if it wasn't poison. Yes or no, fine."

The council was in contact with the owners of the dead dog and warnings had been put out.

About three months ago, the Whanganui Chronicle reported several dogs had fallen ill after being walked at Otamatea Reserve.

The Chronicle understands one of the dogs that fell ill in July died.

One of the dogs that fell ill was taken to Massey University for testing but the results were never made public.

The council said on that occasion it wasn't in contact with the owners of the dog and therefore could not ask permission for the results of the tests. It says it hopes to be able to share what happened to the dog that has died.

"You don't have to stay away [from Otamatea] but what you do have to do is be mindful of your dog and keep your dog on the lead, make sure it doesn't go eating anything that it shouldn't," Kerr said.

"Because what happens is people tend to go up there and just let their dogs go. You have to be proactive and be careful with your dogs. We don't know what it is at this stage."

The club has a competition coming up and it's also their 60th anniversary, which Kerr said made for unusual timing. When illness struck dogs in July it was just a day before a major North Island agility competition.

"It's just ... not very nice. It happened last time in July which was just before our agility show. It's happening again and we've got another show in two weeks. Let's just hope it's a coincidence.

"I wouldn't like to say that someone's doing it on purpose, because that's just scaremongering."

The competition is set for the weekend of Saturday, October 27 and Kerr said it would still go ahead as long as nothing else happened between now and the start date.

"It's going to depend on what information we get whether we move. If it's definitely poison then of course we're not going to want to be there. But we need to know that ... we need to get that from somewhere as to what it was that actually killed the dog. And what made the other two sick? That's only our two that we know of - there could be any number of dogs that have gone home and thrown up and not had any other ill effects.

"You don't know if there's something in the bushes, you don't know if a bird's flown over and dropped something ... there's no answer."