Its a dogs life in Kildare?

County Kildare has no special parks for dogs.

But Labour Cllr Ciara Galvin would like to see them set up and she thinks Celbridge dog owners, in particular, would be very happy to have one.

Recently she asked Kildare County Council officials about how dog parks in other parts of the county operate?

I thought there might have been one in the south of the county but there wasn’t, she told us.

Officials said there are no dog parks run by Kildare County Council in the county. 

They also said that there are dog parks provided by some of the Dublin local authorities. “These are fenced in  areas up to an acre in size and are governed by a set of rules which include dog  owners must be over 16, no more than two dogs per owner, certain dog breeds or dogs  in heat are not allowed use the runs, owners control and must clean up after their dog  and are responsible of their dogs and must supervise them.” 

Cllr Galvin, a dog owner herself, said: “It is a real shame we don’t have one.”

In other local authorities, they have dog parks. You can let some dogs off their leads as long as you clean up after them and some breeds, who may be aggressive, have to be kept on leads, she said. They are good rules, she said.

A dog park was proposed for the Monread area in Naas in 2017.

On another dog matter, Cllr Ide Cussen asked council officials  to undertake a pilot dog fouling - good dog initiative in Celbridge under  the Local Authority's Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti Awareness Grant Scheme.

 Officials said the Council’s Environmental Awareness Officer will organise a dog fouling awareness/responsible dog ownership programme in early 2021,  with the help of the council’s Dog Warden service.

But it will be subject to Covid 19 restrictions they added.  

This can be piloted in the local Municipal District Area with the support of a local  animal welfare/community group, they said.