Recently, Neil McMahon wrote about being fined for allowing his dog to behave like a dog on an off-leash beach. A woman had placed her infant son on a blanket on the sand in the middle of the off-leash dog area, and a dog had licked her baby.

I felt for McMahon. In my own off-leash dog area, a wonderfully wild piece of bushland, I have seen families lay down blankets and not just place a baby in the centre but surround her with a tempting selection of dips, cheeses and cold meats – and then become outraged when every dog within 200 metres made a beeline for them. On Easter morning parents have seeded the undergrowth with foil-wrapped chocolate eggs – most of which were Hoovered up by passing Labradors long before their kids' egg hunt could begin. Tears from the kiddies, expensive trips to the vet for the dog owners.

Worst was the woman who parked herself and her two children on the edge of a popular dog swimming hole. Within moments the children were screaming and weeping and the mother was apoplectic. Apparently her children were afraid of dogs.

Like McMahon, not just the lack of common sense but the extraordinary sense of entitlement leaves me gobsmacked. The law is of course the law and all these parents were within their rights but sometimes, surely, being a good citizen, a good neighbour, just a decent human being is more important – for the sake of the dog owners who share their community, but more importantly for the dogs.