national parks and dogs..what do you think.

howard barrett · Member

national parks and dogs..what do you think.

Greystone · Senior Member

A park ranger once told me that the scent of dogs, including their poo and urine scares off native wild life. That's why they prohibit dogs in national parks.

loni · Member

I think it is sad that everyone can't get to enjoy all of our beautiful country People who travel with an animal do so because they love them so much and won't leave them behind, and treat them like one of the family. I for one think the national parks need to change their regulations, especially in some of the more remote areas.

Bill B · Guru

howard barrett wrote:

80% of travellers have a dog with them

I think this figure is somewhat exaggerated

Hewy54 · Senior Member

80% !!!! Get real.
I am a dog lover , always have been always will be.
Dogs have no place in a national park. If the natural wildlife get the scent of a dog, they will stay away from that area, and this scent stay around for a long time. It is nothing about second class citizens. It is about protecting our national parks. If you want to travel with a dog stay out of national parks.

TheHeaths · Guru

Howard,

sorry but I am afraid that I agree with the current National Park ban on dogs.

When we had our 2, we worked around them, using kennels for an odd overnight stay such as a trip into Kakadu, and day care for some NP visits as well.

Some places are not suitable for, nor should they see, dogs.

toglhot · Senior Member

So, presumably dingos aren't dogs. plenty of them in NPs, currently in plague proportions, and guess what??? they pee and poo too. One of the reasons domesticated dogs are not permitted in NPs is because owners refuse to keep their dogs on lead and won't control them. As a result native animals are killed and injured.

Hewy54 · Senior Member

Yes the dingo is a dog and has been part our our fauna for the last 4,000 years.
There are some national parks with dingos in them but this is not an argument for letting domestic dogs into NPs.

Hodgey · Member

Perhaps we should have a post in national plebiscite

toglhot · Senior Member

Hewy54 wrote:
Yes the dingo is a dog and has been part our our fauna for the last 4,000 years.
There are some national parks with dingos in them but this is not an argument for letting domestic dogs into NPs.

Incorrect! It's the best argument yet. What we should be be arguing is should we let dog owners into our national parks? A well controlled dog who is kept on lead when in public spaces is a threat to nothing; however, that is not the case with dog owners. How many here can actually say their dog is always on a lead when in public. Yes, yes, we all know your dog wouldn't hurt a fly and is under your complete control at all times, so obviously a lead is not required. - Absolute bunkum!

RobandFlip · Senior Member

OK, read the comments about domestic dogs and national parks. Having very recently camped in national parks Qld., I have to say if we had our dogs with us, they would have barked at the birdlife, including ducks etc. Would they attack them? who knows, but we keep them contained when travelling. However, we also noticed evidence of the good old feral pig. Who would have thought, feral pigs in a national park!!! Contain all the vermin first and the argument is sound.
cheers,
Robyn and Phillip

toglhot · Senior Member

I agree 'control the vermin', irresponsible dog owners!

Lone Star · Member

Some pet owners are irresponsible. Even in caravan parks they don't follow the rules such as dogs on leash at all times.
Recently one lady in the park I was staying at never seemed to have her little darling on a lead and was quite put out
when my dog barked at it for sniffing around my camp site.

madcart · Senior Member

We were att a free campo a couple of years ago and it was a birthing padock for Bramha Cattle and before you got to the gate there was a large sign saying NO DOGSs as you got to the gate there was another sign NO DOGS and then as you got through the gate there was another sign NO DOGS and guess what??? 2 couples came in with their little darlings and they let them have a good old run and when challenged they were very insulted that they were told to get their dogs out. It is people like this and ones who go into National Parks with their dogs who will get free camps and National Parks either closed or heavily monitered . So it's the old saying of the few who ruin it for the majority. Keep your dogs in the van or at home or if you are going to National Parks keep them at home. Just for the record I am a dog lover and have had dogs all my life but I also know there is a place for them and theres a place where they need to stay home

toglhot · Senior Member

Local councils need to adopt more stringent rules pertaining to dogs and dog ownership: heavy fines for dogs off lead in public, mandatory jail for cruelty offences, training and licencing of all dog owners as well as their dogs. I too am a dog owner, I've always had dogs and love them to bits, so much so I worked and trained with them, as a living, for almost all my adult working life. Dogs deserve better than us I'm afraid!

msg · Guru

Sorry, I can't agree with dog scents scaring away the native wildlife. I have just been camped for 5 weeks behind the dog fence miles and miles from anywhere. We had four dogs between us who virtually ran free the whole time. Didn't stop the kangaroos coming into camp after dark. They didn't scare the monitor lizard either that hung around camp even though the dogs went ape everytime they saw him. or the king brown or the willy wagtail who was a constant visitor.

Plain Truth · Guru

Why don't you just obey the rules,they are there for a reason.There are plenty of state parks for dogs. Go there and stop whinging.

toglhot · Senior Member

From what I can see everyone is obeying the rules and no one is whinging - except you! And that's the plain truth! If you don't like this thread, or it's annoying you, why are you participating, find another thread and whinge there.

dazz49 · Senior Member

Hewy54 wrote:
Yes the dingo is a dog and has been part our our fauna for the last 4,000 years.
There are some national parks with dingos in them but this is not an argument for letting domestic dogs into NPs.

You are correct the dingo has been part of our fauna, but today there are very few pure bred dingos left. The majority of so called dingos in national Parks and in the north of Australia are crossbreds and are known as feral dogs. That makes them a pest. The dogs on Fraser Island are apparently of pure strain. I agree Keep dogs out of National Parks especially Fraser Island. Imagine a big Rotty getting a ride on a dingo bitch on heat and the consequent litter

cheers Daz

BruDi · Senior Member

Interesting thoughts here. Our US friends are stunned we are not allowed dogs in National Parks. They can take them into the vast majority and must be on a lead no longer than 6 feet or crated or caged. National Forests they are even allowed off lead!

In SA all dogs must now be micro-chipped and desexed as part of their registration. Breeders have some different rules. Frankly I cannot understand why anyone would not have their dog desexed or micro-chipped.

We like to have our dog on a lead as that way we are sure of where she is and that she is under control. We do allow her off lead in some areas where she is safe and where there are no other dogs or people. We set up that she runs from one to the other for a small treat. After some good running she goes back on lead.

Having just returned from an 8 week trip she spent most of it in a harness and on a lead. In the van she was off lead and she was off lead when we took her to a safe place for a run. Other than that on lead for our peace of mind, not to mention her safety.

Di

toglhot · Senior Member

Once again, its not the dogs that are the problem, it's the owners. About 99.99999% are irresponsible!

Spook · Senior Member

toglhot wrote:
Once again, its not the dogs that are the problem, it's the owners. About 99.99999% are irresponsible!

Yeah and we love you too. I have friends in your location and I bet they just love you to bits as they are all dog owners and travel with their dogs. You Sir should sit quietly and calm down!

madaboutled · Guru

toglhot wrote:
Once again, its not the dogs that are the problem, it's the owners. About 99.99999% are irresponsible!

I'd like to see you prove that inflated figure, so either put up of shut up!

Mike Harding · Guru

I can see no reason why dogs on lead should not be permitted into formal camping areas in National Parks.

The concept that they scare away native wildlife is a furphy:
1 - The presence of *people* scares away wildlife whether they have a dog or not.
2 - Wildlife only hang around camps because foolish people feed them.

National Parks have become a haven for feral dogs because hunting of them is not permitted in NPs - ask the farmers in East Gippsland who lose hundreds maybe thousands of lambs each year to feral dogs which live in the Alpine National Park adjoining their farms and about which Parks Victoria do little to nothing.

It is a nonsense to suggest it's OK to create a campsite with camps, toilets and perhaps an office for 50 or more people in the middle of a National Park but Mrs Smith cannot take Pixi the Poodle there because the mutt will somehow cause carnage.

TheHeaths · Guru

Mike,

it's quite simple.

It's because it only takes one owner (and there are plenty of them) who don't feel the "on the leash" rule applies to their dog, because it is such an obedient little thing, to let them off the leash and lose them, and then problems can begin. Hence the feral dogs you note. As for nitwits with guns in a NP, that's a total other argument!

Quite frankly, we travelled for 8 years with our 2 dogs, and we just adjusted our travels to suit the rules. We didn't feel cheated and now without them we are free to travel where and when we want again. If people want to go into NP's use kennels, day care, or leave the dogs at home for the trip. It's simple, and it's definitive, that quite frankly is how law needs to be with the way some try to interpret it.

As an aside, I assume Tony you consider yourself to be in the .00001% of responsible owners. There can't be too much room left in there, as we are/also in it!

dazz49 · Senior Member

Not all dogs are pixi the poodle or some little Maltese cross fluff ball. Others travel with bull terriers. Shepherds rotties grey hounds and the like. So you need a blanket cover. No dogs means no dogs Each to there own. I have had and enjoyed dogs over the years but travelling and sleeping with them is not my cup of tea. Cheers. Daz

Plain Truth · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
I can see no reason why dogs on lead should not be permitted into formal camping areas in National Parks.

The concept that they scare away native wildlife is a furphy:
1 - The presence of *people* scares away wildlife whether they have a dog or not.
2 - Wildlife only hang around camps because foolish people feed them.

National Parks have become a haven for feral dogs because hunting of them is not permitted in NPs - ask the farmers in East Gippsland who lose hundreds maybe thousands of lambs each year to feral dogs which live in the Alpine National Park adjoining their farms and about which Parks Victoria do little to nothing.

It is a nonsense to suggest it's OK to create a campsite with camps, toilets and perhaps an office for 50 or more people in the middle of a National Park but Mrs Smith cannot take Pixi the Poodle there because the mutt will somehow cause carnage.

Mike,sorry you don't Know what you a talking about. Nat Park.jpg

Plain Truth · Guru

They even sit around the campfire with you,and we don't feed the wildlife,that is we like don't like dogs in National Parks.Sorry campfire friend.jpg

-- Edited by Plain Truth on Sunday 20th of August 2017 03:19:05 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

>Mike,sorry you don't Know what you a talking about.

>They even sit around the campfire with you,and we don't feed the wildlife,that is we like don't like dogs in National Parks.Sorry

I do know what I'm talking about and, I'd wager, rather more so than you.

You post photographs of roos, with a Joey!, standing next to people and campfires and you think this is a *normal* state of affairs!?

The *only* reason those roos are there is because foolish people who think it's cute and care nothing for them feed them.

I spend a lot of time camped in remote bush and I frequently see roos passing by my camp but I've *never* had one come in to say "Hi" or warm himself by my fire! You, Sir, need to understand a good deal more about wildlife before telling others they don't know what they are talking about.

Edit: I really do wonder if it's worth continuing to post to this forum.

-- Edited by Mike Harding on Sunday 20th of August 2017 08:33:00 PM

Plain Truth · Guru

Mike ,the Parks we go to,it is quite normal for them to come by the camp.