Granadilla toughens stance on municipal dogs

[Janet]

Granadilla Ayuntamiento has said that it absolutely rejects the proposals introduced by the Asociación de Empresarios y Comerciantes de El Médano (ASEC) which would have allowed dogs to use one of the town's beaches. Environment councillor Jacob Donate emphatically ruled out the suggestion, saying that if allowed, "beaches would be destroyed and tourism ruined". Councillor Donate said he was surprised that the suggestion had been made at all, particularly given the area's blue flag awards, and said that, if anything, the council would be tightening up rules for beach use, rather than relaxing them.  JA

[Nova]

That's stupid, there should be beaches made available for dogs.  It's difficult for responsible dog owners to find anywhere for their dogs to have a play.  The irresponsible ones don't care where their dogs play so won't be affected either way.

[Michael]

Our local council have taken the dog poo problem to a new level of incompetence.

They have introduced a whole new raft of dog control measures. Dogs are banned from certain beaches at certain times of the days etc. etc. The local doggie people are up in arms!

All of which is totally pointless because the dog poo bye-law which allows people who let their dogs shit anywhere be fined has been in force for years. I checked with my FB councillor friend and in all the years that it has been in force, no-one has ever been fined!

WTF is the point of bringing in new bye-laws when you're not enforcing the existing ones? 

Most people wouldn't want dogs banned from beaches here.

They just want the buggers who let their dogs shit everywhere, and don't lift it, to be hammered. 

[Briz]

That's stupid, there should be beaches made available for dogs.  It's difficult for responsible dog owners to find anywhere for their dogs to have a play.  The irresponsible ones don't care where their dogs play so won't be affected either way.

The responsible owners will suffer until the irresponsible ones are removed or retrained

[Guanche]

I know this will not win me any friends But I firmly believe that dog waste is the property of the dogs owners and should be kept on the dog owners property. They should not be allowed to soil or exercise them in any place to which the public have access especially beaches where children can play, even if the owners have cleaning materials.

[Nova]

The same could be said for children    I know how much our dogs love running in the open and how much they enjoy going to the beach.  There's a doggy-designated beach near Southport where my parents take them and they love it!  I'm not suggesting they allow dogs on Las Vistas (or El Medano seeing as this is about Granadilla), but there are plenty of smaller, quieter, less maintained beaches around Tenerife which could be made dog-friendly without hurting anybody.  And if the powers that be took the trouble to impose fines on any owners who didn't pick up the poop there could be some money to be made there too!

I remember a beach we visited when I was little, can't remember where, but we were charged for parking upon entering the car park and at the same time the attendant issued us with a plastic spade and a poo bag.  A dog-designated beach in Tenerife where dogs are banned from just about every other public space, might well prove popular enough that money could be made either from parking, or imposing fines or both.  For owners who love their dogs, it's worth paying parking fees to be able to watch your dogs running free and playing in the sand, even having a paddle or a swim.  I don't see the problem.

[Guanche]

I know I've been here before and I don't want to upset anyone with my views on dogs. What I will say is that part of my job entailed me giving talks  about my dogs. From schools big and small to church groups and Girl Guides WI all sorts. I probably gave two a month. I always set aside 5 min for dog/human hygiene.
I detailed all the parasites and infestations that can be transmitted from dogs to humans and how best to avoid them. Upwards of 11 people per year are blinded by dog crap in the UK alone. I have no idea in Spain. Just because you diligently pick up the crap with a plastic bag does not mean you get the lot and all it takes is one round worm egg that can lay dormant in the ground for years along comes a human put's their hand on the sand then the sandwich into the mouth  ....... well there you have it.

I fully understand that some humans are quite disgusting but there's not much we can do about that! But we can stop dogs from fouling the beaches we all use. As I say I don't expect to win any friends with my perspective on dogs and how they should be handled. My involvement was always professional as I never had a pet dog. Sorry if I offend.

One thing I forgot to add. I never took my dogs to any place where I knew other dog owners walked and exercised their dogs. While I knew my dogs were healthy I didn't want them catching anything from any other dog. So a communal exercise site is not advisable....IMHO

[Nova]

Well if anyone's stupid enough to eat without washing their hands, or at least use an anti-bacterial wet-wipe, then that's their own look-out 

[Guanche]

I agree Nova but accidents happen, children do silly things like putting sand in their mouths! And we do have a massive and beautiful national park only ten minutes away from anywhere on the island. At least the dogs will have something to cock there legs against

[Briz]

The same could be said for children    I know how much our dogs love running in the open and how much they enjoy going to the beach.  There's a doggy-designated beach near Southport where my parents take them and they love it! 

For owners who love their dogs, it's worth paying parking fees to be able to watch your dogs running free and playing in the sand, even having a paddle or a swim.  I don't see the problem.

My family had many dogs when I was young, some time into double figures, We were 100 miles from the nearest beach but I don't think the dogs suffered because they couldn't run on the sand.