Don't Crap On Our Beaches

Dog owner furious for being fined after he let his dog loose on a beach. (Head line in local paper).
Down here most beaches have a ban on dogs during the summer months and all such beaches have notices informing their owners of this ban. But one dog owner, a local coast guard seemed to think because his dog only wanted to play with the children he could ignore this ban. Yeah right.
Ian Pedrick, the landlord of the Hope and Anchor near Kingsbridge and one of the Hope Cove coastguards, received a £200 fine and ordered to pay £50.70 in costs from magistrates after his dog was seen on the beach several times. Maybe he though because he is a coast guard he was above the law.
I once stopped a bus at Penn Inn roundabout and a dog, not on a lead, boarded the bus. The owner then got on and I told him he needed to put the dog on a lead before they could travel. He looked amazed and claimed the dog was under his complete control. Someone should have told the dog that as it was running up and down the bus jumping up at passengers and in it's own mind having fun. But this dog was a pit bull terrier type and several of my passengers were not at all happy. The owners then stated that he couldn't put the dog on a lead as he didn't have a lead. No lead, no travel said I. The rest of the conversation was too unpleasant to report here, it is a family show after all.
I recount that little incident here to show how some dog owners seem to have so little regard to how other people view there little monsters. One of my earliest memories as very small child was being scared by a dog and ending up at the Manchester Royal Infirmary being held down by a nurse while two stitches were put in my head. Probably more frightening than being attacked by the dog. Back then it was common practice for dog owners to let their dogs out in the morning to roam the streets bored out of their minds hanging about on street corners in gangs scaring little old ladies and small children. Times have changed but some of this idea still lingers.
The big problem of dogs roaming free is toilet time. Dogs, unlike people who want to go to the toilet, will if they are out side just squat down and do it. If the owner isn't actually look at that moment then a pile of something unpleasant ends up on the beach where children are playing, hopefully without having to worry if they stand in something nasty. With some owners, even if they are looking when the dog craps, the same messy pile will remain on the beach. Please keep keep your dog off the beach and our beaches clean.