Pet-loving campers upset by council's no-dogs bylaw

Dog-loving campers at the Amberley Beach Camp say their holiday has been ruined by council enforcement of a little-known bylaw.

For 14 years Christchurch couple Ned and Jean Moir have stayed at the Hurunui District Council-owned North Canterbury camping ground with their dogs.

The couple have a toy poodle and a chihuahua.

This holiday, for the first time, they were told their dogs were not allowed.

Fellow camper Sue Nevin, of Kaiapoi, said she rang the council in November to check whether dogs were welcome at the ground and was told they were allowed.

As a result, Nevin and her husband, Jim, chose the Amberley Beach Camp for their first camping holiday in their new caravan.

But when they arrived on Christmas Eve, campers told them a dog-control officer had visited the ground and that they had been given 24 hours notice to remove their dogs.

As Nevin had been told dogs were welcome, the couple decided to stay.

However, they had kept their maltese and maltese chihuahua in the caravan.

"Trying to keep two little dogs inside in 35 degrees ... that's not a holiday. We want to know where we stand. I was told it was fine [to have dogs]."

(...)

However, the council's dog control officer had received several complaints about dogs at the camping ground during the latest holiday period, he said.

"I'm not aware of complaints down there in previous years," he said.

Feierabend said campers were given a day to take their dogs home. He conceded there could be confusion if there was a sign in just one area, and more signs would be erected.

For a country that has grown and flourished because of dogs and the working dog... this is just getting my goat.

New Zealand is NOT DOG FRIENDLY.

For those people who want to immigrate to NZ, and think that we are GREEN and WELCOMING of all things with four legs, you are wrong!

This country has adopted new measures of surveying us, by the way...

" New cyber-monitoring measures have been quietly introduced giving police and Security Intelligence Service officers the power to monitor all aspects of someone's online life.

The measures are the largest expansion of police and SIS surveillance capabilities for decades, and mean that all mobile calls and texts, email, internet surfing and online shopping, chatting and social networking can be monitored anywhere in New Zealand. MORE>> "

What does this have to do with dogs?.... new powers, less freedom... life in general.

We are slowly being monitored, being complained about, being told what to do, where to do it, and how to do it. Dog officials telling us where to walk our dog, where we can sleep with our dogs, and what time to walk on dogs (beach signs)

No wonder our dogs are going crazy and now need dog sitters, dog walkers, dog psychologists, dog behaviouralists... it a reflection of our society.