Have To Get This Off My Chest.

[JodyC]

Use the 'shit sandwich' formula to try to keep them onside. Start by talking about how greaat the facility is, then talk about the problem and finish by telling them how great it is that everyone is able to enjoy the park or something to that effect. Always end on a positive so they feel positive about the letter.

I agree with this idea but I would also be including that should this incident be repeated you will be writing to the league the club belongs to. Address your letter to the club and they have to address the matter at a committee meeting.

Keeping the 'tone' of the letter as 'shit sandwich ) whilst still addressing the facts will get you the best outcome IMO :)

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I agree with sending a formal letter to the club, and I would also send a copy of that to the council for their records. And also agree with checking the lease arrangements and how these are communicated to the public.

We have a slightly different but similar issue at our dog club. A football club has started using the ground in the last year or 2, and their memebers are absolutely revolting bullies. One day when we had the ground booked for an event a whole bunch of them showed up and hung around in the carpark, were wandering around being intimidating, were harrassing the dogs as they were being taken back to cars (or waiting in cars while we packed up equipment), were deliberatly getting in people's way and were taunting people - they are just disgusting. They will often show up when we have the grounds booked for training and they will run past the dogs that are at tether posts (with a sign clearly saying to stay away from the dogs) and will come and kick footballs on the ground during our class times. The council isn't interested in the dog club even though we've been leasing the grounds for over 10 years, they always side with the football club. We also have to collect used banadages, broken bottles and cans from the grounds almost every time we have training because they just leave them there. And I won't even mention what state they leave the shared club rooms in.

Another issue we have are the personal trainers that will use the ground and run their sessions through the classes and will run people through groups of dogs that are moving to class.

I'd like to be more tolerant and community minded but I'm finding these people are making it very difficult for me to feel anything positive towards sporting groups.

We have signs that the council has given us to put up at the perimeters of the grounds to let people know that training is on. But many people just ignore these and do what they want and the council really doesn't listen to anthing from the dog club. It's really disappointing.

[Pollywaffle]

it's just another form of discrimination....the pack majority ousting the interloper...good on you for standing your ground and getting the facts.

[kelpiecuddles]

That's disgusting behaviour from everyone including the council PME, is there another venue they could use. Personally I'd be finding another venue and then printing out basically what you have just written and putting it in to a letter and sending it to council so they know exactly why you are leaving and I'd make sure any other organisation wanting to use the grounds is well aware. Otherwise maybe a little chat to the local media, they always like stories about intimidation and misbehaviour from sporting groups :p

[RubyStar]

I know sport is important, but it does get sad when designated offleash areas for dogs get the boot when a sporting club comes along. 6 years ago when I got my first Lab I used to take her down almost every afternoon/evening to a very large local oval that had very few people use it. We'd go and work on some training and it was a lovely time with me and my girl, fond memories and all that. Now that oval has turned into a sporting ground with a club house built and nice big signs that say no offlead dogs Why can't things be shared? It's large enough and why can't dogs be offlead when the oval isn't being used by the sporting club? It's just really sad.

[Christina]

Ironic that they were hassling you aggressively & you had 2 off lead dogs with you.

Obviously not scared or intimidated by your dogs.

People are often so neurotic & stupid about dogs these days. Is easier to own a gun.

[Podengo]

How awful!! We're very lucky to have our club based at a school, and we train outside of school hours when the school is locked... No general public interrupting our training! The school kids do damage our club house a little, but we put up with that!

[Melina Bea]

I'm sorry You've had to deal with such bullies. As a new dog owner it makes me sad to learn that this kind of thing is so prevalent around the country.

I agree with sending a letter and avoiding face-to-face confrontation. Put everything down in writing for the record, including a warning that if it happens again you will be 'forced to' report them for harassment.

I also agree with media involvement in cases where this is more prevalent and the council takes no notice. The media so often works against us, fearmongering when it comes to dogs, it would be only fair to use them to our advantage for once.

Also bear in mind that dog owners tend to walk / train alone or in small groups so they may not realise there's a large group of like-minded people wanting the same changes and respect from the public. So awareness is key for mobilisation in more extreme cases.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Media usually takes the side of the sporting club - especially if they have a lot of juniors.

You have to be really careful about it. And really well organised but vague - ie no fixed target for the bullies to attack. Get everyone to put their own individual submissions in as they carry more weight in numbers than a few people representing a sports club.

And work your way up in the council hierarchy and get your local reps to help you... the reception staff are there to fob you off and keep the council work load down. you need to get help higher up the food chain. And it is important to remind the council hierarchy who is paying the rates - and out of council athletes are not - they cost a lot more than they bring in.

And dog walking is much more inclusive than organised sport when it comes to keeping the local community healthy... both physically and mentally. Our oval is given to two male only sports. FFS. Really easy to show they are not helping the majority, the older citizens or the disabled. Where as dog walkers - are mostly women, often older, and sometimes disabled.

[BoxerB]

Some people are a joke.

Lucky for me i have a nice big dark Boxer pup who although wouldn't hurt a fly, generally is a very good d!ckhead repelant.

And i have no doubt these people were d!ckheads who needed repelling

excuse the language :)

[Topoftheheap]

What an idiot, but I have heard this sort of irrational fear of dogs before from parents.

A member of my family is involved in a program which goes into schools with dogs and on one visit, one parent tried to get the whole program removed from the school, as this parent felt that it was unsafe for dogs to be anywhere near children. The aim of the program is to teach safety around dogs and of course the dogs involved are all thoroughly tested and trained, but this did not matter. It ended in a compromise, the dog would be allowed to enter the school but her child would not be involved in anyway what so ever. This meant that the dog and handler had to enter earlier than they would of normally, through a separate, hidden entrance and had to stay in a staff room during breaks to avoid this child even seeing the child. So it seems there are people out there who just hate the thought of dogs around children in any circumstance which is just crazy and irrational.

[Pretty Miss Emma]

What an idiot, but I have heard this sort of irrational fear of dogs before from parents.

A member of my family is involved in a program which goes into schools with dogs and on one visit, one parent tried to get the whole program removed from the school, as this parent felt that it was unsafe for dogs to be anywhere near children. The aim of the program is to teach safety around dogs and of course the dogs involved are all thoroughly tested and trained, but this did not matter. It ended in a compromise, the dog would be allowed to enter the school but her child would not be involved in anyway what so ever. This meant that the dog and handler had to enter earlier than they would of normally, through a separate, hidden entrance and had to stay in a staff room during breaks to avoid this child even seeing the child. So it seems there are people out there who just hate the thought of dogs around children in any circumstance which is just crazy and irrational.

And people wonder why kids get bitten - how can they learn if their parents won't let them!! That child should have been told to stay home for the day if the parent objected, it is unreasonable to do what was done. My dog gets taken to schools and if we were told those arrangements at the time of booking we would say that we would either not bring the dog or that we would not be able to accept the booking.

[Ringo]

For all the problems people have listed the use of a video camera to show the behaviour of the people concerned I've found to be useful and usually (not always) has two effects - the behaviour stops/moderates and and is good to show the powers that be what you are complaining about - with a picture worth a thousand words it's a bit hard saying you football club isn't doing anything as they are shown the video recording.

[grumpette]

What an idiot, but I have heard this sort of irrational fear of dogs before from parents.

A member of my family is involved in a program which goes into schools with dogs and on one visit, one parent tried to get the whole program removed from the school, as this parent felt that it was unsafe for dogs to be anywhere near children. The aim of the program is to teach safety around dogs and of course the dogs involved are all thoroughly tested and trained, but this did not matter. It ended in a compromise, the dog would be allowed to enter the school but her child would not be involved in anyway what so ever. This meant that the dog and handler had to enter earlier than they would of normally, through a separate, hidden entrance and had to stay in a staff room during breaks to avoid this child even seeing the child. So it seems there are people out there who just hate the thought of dogs around children in any circumstance which is just crazy and irrational.

And people wonder why kids get bitten - how can they learn if their parents won't let them!! That child should have been told to stay home for the day if the parent objected, it is unreasonable to do what was done. My dog gets taken to schools and if we were told those arrangements at the time of booking we would say that we would either not bring the dog or that we would not be able to accept the booking.

If you did not compromise as Topoftheheap did, and did not accept the booking, then all the other children would have missed out on receiving the valuable lesson that the Responsible Pet Education program teaches. The lack of a dog would have just re-enforced the fear that dogs are dangerous and should not be allowed anywhere near children.

I see the above situation as a perfect opportunity to disprove some bad myths about dogs and teach children and parents how to be safe around dogs. It is the same situation when visiting mutlicultural schools where some students/parents may not want to interact with dogs for religious reasons or because of bad experiences that they have had with dogs in their country of origin.

[Loving my Oldies]

What an idiot, but I have heard this sort of irrational fear of dogs before from parents.

A member of my family is involved in a program which goes into schools with dogs and on one visit, one parent tried to get the whole program removed from the school, as this parent felt that it was unsafe for dogs to be anywhere near children. The aim of the program is to teach safety around dogs and of course the dogs involved are all thoroughly tested and trained, but this did not matter. It ended in a compromise, the dog would be allowed to enter the school but her child would not be involved in anyway what so ever. This meant that the dog and handler had to enter earlier than they would of normally, through a separate, hidden entrance and had to stay in a staff room during breaks to avoid this child even seeing the child. So it seems there are people out there who just hate the thought of dogs around children in any circumstance which is just crazy and irrational.

It is hard to understand that the school would allow one parent to dictate its policies. If one person objects to a school policy, then they either go somewhere else, stay home on the day; it sounds as though the school was pretty weak, frankly.

Pretty poor compromise.

I do see Grumpette's point though, but I feel the school should have stood its ground.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Danny's Darling