Dogs can be loyal and caring friends. Or they can get you into trouble with the police. You might have seen the story of the dog who, while on an off-leash beach, licked a baby and whose mother called triple zero saying her child had been attacked. The owner was cautioned by the police and had to fork out $238 for failing to maintain what was called “effective control” of his dog in an off-leash area. Reasonable intervention for irresponsible behaviour or self-righteous overreaction?

We asked Guardian staff about their experiences with man’s best friend. Share your story in the comments below.

‘Dog are still just animals – not people’

I love dogs, but I am starting to lose patience with some of their owners.

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A couple of recent experiences sum it up for me. The first was when my children were on the play equipment at a local park when a personal trainer with his pitbull and a client came along. He left his pitbull to snuffle around while getting his client to do chin ups on the monkey bars. Sod the terrified children running away from his menacing dog.

Again, at the children’s playground, a dog walker came through the child’s bike track with his dog off the leash. The dog darted across the track causing children on bikes and scooters to pile up, then came over and lifted its leg on a nearby picnic basket, completely ignoring its owners calls who later tried to laugh it off: “aren’t you a naughty boy”, she said, as if to a toddler who had blown a raspberry.

Both of these encounters were in areas where dogs were not permitted – even dogs on a leash. So I have little sympathy for dog owners complaining about children invading their off-leash areas when my experience has been the opposite.

The reality is we need to share most of our public spaces between people and dogs – we can’t divide the world into dog areas and human areas – but for that to work dog owners need to be responsible.

I know dogs are great companions and endlessly loyal and friendly and lovely, but they are still just animals – not people. In shared public spaces people should come first. – Patrick Keneally

‘Dogs and non-dog-owners can interact with benefits for all’

As the owner of a friendly but exuberant dog, I have occasionally had to deal with situations when her behaviour has annoyed other park users. The sunbathers and the guy sitting cross-legged meditating with his eyes closed did get a bit of a surprise, it’s true, but in both cases it was an off-leash park, so I felt no lasting sense of guilt. In the vast majority of cases real problems arise only when people cannot respect the rules – they let their dogs off in inappropriate places, or have unrealistic expectations of how dogs behave in an off-leash park. Sometimes there are grey areas and everyone needs to use common sense – I regularly take my dogs to a park that is mostly off-leash but also has a children’s play area with no fence around it.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Milton (left) and Pippa sleeping. Photograph: Mike Ticher

As with cycling and other activities where there is competition for public space, no group is ever completely in the right or in the wrong. But in the right environment dogs and non-dog-owners can interact with benefits for all. My regular walking venue, Sydney Park, where off-leash dogs mix freely with cyclists, runners, children, Westconnex protesters and people enjoying all kinds of fitness activities, is a harmonious and quite wonderful place 99% of the time.

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We regulate dogs in ways that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago – mostly entirely for the good, with microchipping, desexing, changed behaviour on disposing of poo, and rules on where they can run free. But it would be a shame if anxiety over dogs resulted in too many restrictions. As Melinda Houston pointed out in her piece for Fairfax Media, dogs that are rarely exercised off the leash are more likely to be the ones that bark all day or exhibit destructive behaviour because they are bored and have excess energy. For children, learning how to interact with dogs is a necessary and, for many, hugely enjoyable part of growing up. But obviously it is up to dog owners to help make that process as safe and non-stressful as possible for everyone. – Mike Ticher

‘There’s no telling what could spook a dog’

As someone who grew up with four dogs in the family, from very large to small, I love them. I’m completely comfortable with them and don’t mind interacting with a new dog, confident that I would know how to handle the situation if it reacted badly. But that’s with a couple of decades of experience. I don’t own a dog now, but I have small children and have since developed some frustrations with dog owners. Some dog owners. #notalldogowners

Despite my own love of dogs, I am furious at owners who do not have their dogs on leashes in public spaces. Whether it’s on the footpath, at the playground or kicking a ball on the oval, I would not have to worry if your dog was on a leash. It could not run up to my child uninvited. It could not, unrestrained, lick their face, or jump up on them, or knock them over in exuberant play. And while those experiences are fun and lovely with a known dog – they can be unpredictable. There’s no way for me as a parent to know if that run, or lick, or jump, is going to be friendly, or irrevocably change my child’s life – and yours – for the worse.

I’ve seen too many stories about children and adults being attacked and mauled, even by the family dog. There’s no telling what could spook a dog, and it is the owner’s responsibility to restrain them. This is not a matter of “teach your kids how to behave”. It’s a matter of keeping an animal restrained in places where they should be. I don’t take my children into dog off-leash areas because that’s the place for dogs to run as freely as they wish. Everywhere else, put it on a leash. – Dave Earley

‘Not even replacing the cake could calm the parents’

“Labs are ruled by their stomachs”, I was told when I picked up Tommy as a 10 week old pup. “That’s why you can train them so well”, she added.

I bought Tommy as a companion for my wife. She had to spend six months on her own in Canberra when I moved up to Sydney in 2001. Fast forward five years and Tommy was a lively dog who was indeed ruled by his stomach. He basically developed tunnel vision if he saw any eating possibility and took off like an Exocet missile in the direction of food.



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I could always tell when he was going for food as he had an extra turn of speed that he reserved soley for honing in on an eating possibility. One fine Saturday I went to Sydney park for an afternoon walk with Tommy. I usually walked him down there off his leash without incident.

About 200 metres away was a six-year-old’s birthday party. On a small table was a birthday cake in the final stages of having the candles lit. The children were gathered around to sing. Tommy took off at food targeting speed and my manic screams had zero effect. He didn’t even slow as he jumped over the table, sending chips, lollies, drinks and parents flying in all directions and taking the whole cake with him. Not even replacing the cake could calm the parents of the children at this birthday party, and I don’t blame them. Tommy, covered in cream, jam and cake, happily panted as I drove him home, oblivious to the turmoil he had caused.

I never let our dogs off the leash now, unless we are in a very remote location – like the Simpson Desert. – Mike Bowers

Share your story in the comments below.