Ballarat dog owners should be outraged at the severe lack of designated off-lead dog areas currently being proposed by the Ballarat City Council.
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A majority of Ballarat residents will now be forced to drive to an off-lead area if they want to adequately exercise their dogs.
This would pose immense difficulties for the elderly, disabled, families with young children and people without vehicles.
The council states that these changes will reduce the number of dog attacks that occur in our community, even though most headlines featuring dog attacks state that the offending dogs had escaped through a hole in the fence or that someone left the gate open.
These new restrictions will not solve this problem.
They will, however, disadvantage and 'punish' owners that have taken the time and effort to adequately train and socialise their dogs and impact the amount of off-lead exercise their dogs will receive.
This could lead to further problems such as barking, digging and unsocialised dogs in our neighbourhoods.
Providing more off-lead areas will encourage people to get active and walk to them, allow more 'isolated' citizens (such as the elderly) an opportunity to connect with others while their dogs play, and ensure that the canine members of our city are happy, healthy and content.
Responsible dog owners of Ballarat need to let the council know how important designated off-lead areas are and that we need greater access to them across the whole Ballarat area.