[Arclite]

Hi All

We have 2 big black labradors and we really enjoy walking them around where we live in Norfolk (UK not Virginia USA).

Is NZ dog friendly ?
Do people like dogs there ?
Can you walk on fields or in the national parks with dogs ?
Do they have to be kept on leads ? (or worse muzzled) ?
Can you let them run on the beach ?
Obviously we collect all the dog poo (we are responsible owners)

Can anyone give us some info on the above and how you find NZ from a dog owners viewpoint.

Many thanks

Arclite

[GeorgeM]

Loads of people have dogs in Chch, and being a dog-owner here is very easy.

They're allowed on most beaches, but are excluded from some of the more central ones - some all the time, others during the summer only.

All dogs in Chc have to be registered and wear a coloured tag (colour changes each year),and this does seem to promote a more responsible attitude of dog ownershipe than we experienced in the UK. You hadly ever see a stray, for example, and almost never come across dog %^$@ on pavements, both of which were endemic in much of Britain.

[jubjub]

we dont have much of a problem finding somewhere to walk our dog, but you cant take them in some of national parks due to wildlife concerns. Check out the council website for the area you are going to be living, they have a section of "dog Control" which lists where you can and cant walk/exercise your dog, either on/off leash, some parks have their own website and will tell you on there if dogs are welcome. Some beaches are restricted during summer, and you can only use certain sections between 9am & 7pm.

The coloured tag Geroge mentioned is issued by the local council when your dog is registered, its an offence to not register your dog, and it costs $80 a year for us, council charges vary.

People are generally dog friendly, although most larger dogs, such as Labs are considered "outdoor" dogs, and folks are surprised if you have yours as indoor pets, guess its depends on what climate you are coming from, certainly outdoor dogs in scotland were not common!

Oh and the chinese seem to be afraid of dogs, dunno why..... but hubby encountered a couple who literally shrieked when they saw our boy (they were a good distance away too!)

[GeorgeM]

People are generally dog friendly, although most larger dogs, such as Labs are considered "outdoor" dogs, and folks are surprised if you have yours as indoor pets, guess its depends on what climate you are coming from, certainly outdoor dogs in scotland were not common!Yes, I'd forgotten that I'd initially found this strange - it seems so natural now!

We have a pointer and she has slept out in a kennel on the deck ever since she was a puppy. She doesn't sleep inside even in the middle of winter, although she is allowed indoors when we are up and about - she just gets slung out when we go out or go to bed.

[Moorf]

I'm actually a little disappointed at the restrictions on where we can walk our dog here - although respectful that there are good reasons for it. I would reconsider getting another dog purely for that reason. If you live near the beaches that's fine, as others have said you can walk your dog on most beaches for most of the year. There are also "dog exercise areas" in most larger towns (Chch has about 5 of them, complete with agility equipment). If you are further out in the countryside you won't find as many spots - the gorges are good and if, like us, you have friendly neighbours and a quiet village you can walk them off the lead in public places.

But venture out into the countryside, on to the walking tracks etc, and you will usually find that dogs aren't allowed. We have gone on several drives to several places with tracks or woodland walks and have had to leave Summer in the car or abandon the walk due to restrictions.

One tip, talk to other dog owners in your vicinity - they tend to know all the places you can let your dog off etc.

If anyone in the Canterbury has any tips on good, long walks on which dogs are allowed then I'd love to know. We're already familiar with the Port Hills and crater rim walks. Some further afield would be nice.

Moorf

[G&K]

Wellington seems pretty well catered to for dogs and we pretty much take our GSP with us wherever we go...

He's not allowed into the C.B.D but that's fair enough - we wouldn't want to take him... He's not a big shopper !

Interestingly one of our friends is a Park Ranger - so the "official" line for parks etc is that your dog should be "under control" - and that is fairly open to interpretation i.e doesn't have to be on a lead, just to be within sight of you and come to when called... This is to protect the native birds, especially flightless ones like kiwi's.

All of which is pretty fair really, mostly though we take him to the beach and he loves it. Our nearest has daylight saying restrictions on it i.e dog free between 9 am and 7pm but we take him before we go to work and to another after work. Daylight saving ends in a couple of weeks anyhow...

So I guess it depends where you live.

[sizzlingbadger]

Where we live, out in the wop wops, no one has any trouble with dogs. In fact most of the people in the town have more than one dog.

We have two whippets who are well excercised on our section but we have a reserve down the road and playing fields across the road. Everyone who sees our dogs have to stop us and ask what they are :D Seems that they're a strange breed over here.

I think our dog licence is $40 each for the year which isn't bad.

[Moorf]

Parks etc all fine here too. Although I am sure you are aware that your dog can be shot on sight if it gets into a field of sheep... same as in Scotland. Farmers round here actually pull you up on that if you're out walking with your dog off lead - regardless of whether they know how well the dog is trained. Forewarned and all that....

Much of the South Island is D.O.C. land or wildlife reserves, hence many restrictions.. but would be nice to have a list of great walks we can go on with Summer, not a short walk in the park, more of a half day or days worth of walking.

[debnjohn]

.. but would be nice to have a list of great walks we can go on with Summer, not a short walk in the park, more of a half day or days worth of walking.
We agree. As you said before, the beach is a great place to walk you dog (and meet other dog owners!), but a list of longer walks would be good. We could do with finding a few new places for weekend walks with Freddie.

http://static.flickr.com/45/105742795_c47defd471.jpg

[jen]

that all sounds fairly encouraging - I was wondering about taking dogs on the beach.

I AM worried about finding rentals with our dogs. They are 80 lbs and 50 lbs repectively, so I think we'll be considered strange to having them in the house. Hope it doesn't scare too many prospective landlords!

[sweetpea]

most larger dogs, such as Labs are considered "outdoor" dogs

OK, my long rant about outdoor dogs was just eaten by my computer. Just as well. In San Francisco, keeping an outdoor-only dog is considered cruel, and I can't get over how most medium-large dogs seem to be outdoor-only dogs here. Also, the outdoor accommodations for dogs seem appallingly small to me. This is the one thing about NZ that I just can't stand - everything else has been Sweet As. :)

If you're renting, allow some extra time in your housing search, as most landlords, even the ones who allow dogs, will expect your Labs to stay outside. Also, I believe within cities, you must have a fully fenced yard in order to have a dog, so that limits housing options somewhat. It is possible to find something, though!

[foolsgold99]

ahh the joys of rental with a dog, I had a conversation with the woman about a house, explained we had a dog, didn't seemed to be a problem, then she said, "I assume it's an outdoor dog ?"

It was a whole paradiam shift thing for me, a dog that lives outside ?? couldn't get my head round it. Sure my dog likes to visit outside, but live there ?? No not really.

You can rent with a dog, if you come accross as a responsible person. We bought our home after being in the country 5 weeks, this is all behind us. Strangely now, I think our dog would quite like to be an outdoor dog, spends hours at a time in the garden

[Debbie]

Of subject slightly I know but, If any of you NZ based dog owners are going to the pet store and remember could you see if you could get a price for 15kg bag Nature choice 'Nutro' giant breed lamb and rice. Very specific, I know, but my dog had a ruptured stomach ulser (sp) 20 mths ago and now is only allowed this food. I know they do it in a number of stores all over NZ but can't get a price on the web. Would be good to get an idea if feeding him is going to bankrupt me .
Ta debbie

[Howie]

THanks for all the posts about dog-friendly NZ. I will be bringing my yellow lab and hope to get a puppy shortly after the lab gets out of quarantine. I know, good luck finding rental housing with a puppy. My dogs will be indoor dogs, although I think it would be nice to have a dog door and allow them the choice of staying out or coming in.
Howie is 10 years old but still needs lots of excercise, so it's important that I find a nice place to take him off leash to run. He loves to swim so the beach sounds like a great option. We took him to the beach in NJ once and he thought that the water tasted so great he had better drink as much as he can. He was so sick. Hopefully we can train him out of that.
Susan

[sweetpea]

could you see if you could get a price for 15kg bag Nature choice 'Nutro' giant breed lamb and rice.

Debbie,

I'll check when I get a chance, but be prepared for it to be $100+. :mad:

Sweetpea

[Moorf]

Is this the one you're looking for? $131 for 15kg bag.....

http://www.cyberpets.co.nz/digicart/fusebox.cfm?FuseAction=productDetails&PrID=64806A86-F338-45E2-858F246A207E4713&CFID=14961024&CFTOKEN=51637588&OpVal_5=18

[Debbie]

Thanks Moorf,
The link was for a cat food, (gosh aren't cats expencive to feed!!, but I bet 15kg lasts a long time for a cat). Link enabled me to find what I was looking for, same price with exchange rate as in the UK roughly £38 or $98. Just goes to prove the cheeper cost of living thing isn't going to work out. But he's worth it.
Debbie

[Ant&Eve]

Moorf – try Oxford forest for walking the dogs. Park at View Hill (just over the Wimak by the gorge) car park and walk to the waterfall – it’s a good 2 hour out-return and ok for dogs.

Jen – when looking for rental property around Christchurch I found that 95% of properties were “no dogs”. But don’t be discouraged as when I spoke to owners I found most relented when assured the dogs wouldn’t sleep in the house (we keep ours in the garage, on a three seater sofa bought from the shed for the princely sum of $10) and by don’t of posting a larger bond. I also did a sales job by assuring we’d poop-scoop the grounds regularly and pay for professional cleaning of the carpets before we left.

[Angie and Mick]

When we were on holiday in NZ in Nov 05 we travel in a motorhome, I did notice that many of the camp sites said no dogs, is this the norm as when we come over with the dog 'a border collie' we are hoping to get a motor home, (we have a small camper now)
thanks Angie.

[Moorf]

Angie - Whilst I didn't delve toooo deeply into it I did contact the major campervan operators and none would allow a dog in their vans - something to bear in mind. However, if you do find an outfit that will allow it, then please let me know. :nice1

Ant&Eve - thanks for info re Oxford forest. Not entirely sure if I'm talking of the same place here but a few weeks back we nipped up to Coopers Creek - the "definitely not dogs" sign moved us on immediately and we made for "View Hill" - going through lots of gated paddocks until we reached a car park - unfortunately the trees (which had black bark?) were swarming with wasps :uhoh so we got back in... is this the area you mean? It's only minutes from us so perhaps when the wasp population has gone to bed for the winter we may return!!!!

[Ant&Eve]

Moorf – you’re spot on. The walk from Coopers Creek has the no dogs signs, but not the walk from view hill (which links to the coopers creek walk!). We were up there last Saturday and did the walk to the waterfall with the mutts. Some bumble bees by the car park but no wasps on the walk.

Taylors Mistake to Boulder Bay is also a good walk to take the dogs. Although the sign tells you to keep you dog on a lead, in practice we’ve not had any problems when blatantly ignoring it.

[Moorf]

Taylors Mistake to Boulder Bay is also a good walk to take the dogs. Although the sign tells you to keep you dog on a lead, in practice we’ve not had any problems when blatantly ignoring it.

Oh yes, that's a brilliant walk, especially when the suns about to set :nice1, was one of our favs when we lived in Sumner, that and the walk above Sumner on the hill tracks.. our dog, Summer, is usually off lead as she's under good voice control (sometimes she's better off the lead than on!).

Cheers for that.

[Howie]

Howie gets out of quarantine tomorrow :raebanana

We're looking for some place we can take him for a nice long run off leash in or around Auckland (we're in Howick). I don't mind a bit of a drive if I can find some place where I don't have to worry about him not being allowed off leash or chasing livestock. I'd also prefer to avoid the beach as although he loves to swim, he loves to drink ocean water (and then get very sick in the car).

Any suggestions?

[jubjub]

Oh, well done Howie, you made it! Bet you are so chuffed to have him back. Was going to suggest Eastern Beach, but I have seen a dog drink sea water, and its not pretty ten mins later....

You found a rental to take him then?

We sometimes take Lucky down to the Tamaki River, there is a big reserve there for a good run.. its off Tiraumea Drive, just of Ti Rakau Drive, although its just a big field, it may be better than nothing...http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/asjohnstone/reserve.png