Letter: ‘Claims of protest from New Forest dog owners not really accurate.’

Your correspondent Peter Padfield (A&T Letters 19th Apr) says that ‘Dog owners have protested that their pets should be allowed to roam free irrespective of numbers’. That’s not really accurate.

The last ‘protest’ by owners against possible restrictions was more than 20 years ago. Now we (I represent the New Forest Dog Owners Group and its 1,300 dog owning members) are much happier working with the organisations and authorities in the Forest in harmony.

Mr Padfield is right that we want to protect our freedoms – but on the basis dog owners behave responsibly, have their dogs under control, use a lead if necessary, avoid wild animals and livestock, and pick up and dispose of poo. We work actively to promote this and encourage all owners to act properly.

I can’t work out what Mr Padfield means by ‘irrespective of numbers’ but the national park through its professional dog-walkers charter puts a limit on numbers, and I’m not sure many private dog walkers have more than one or two dogs.

David Bennett

Deputy chairman, NFDOG