August 8, 2003
By Lucille Davie
TIRED of the usual routes you take when walking your dog? A new booklet, the first in a series, outlines the old routes with new detours you can take in the parks available for dog walking in Johannesburg.
Entitled Dogwalk, Joburg Dog Walks, the booklet covers the popular dog-walking parks like Emmarentia Dam, Melville Koppies and Sandton Field & Study, but also the not-so-well-known places like the Roodepoort Athletics Stadium, Harvey Park in Cyrildene, Albert's Farm in Northcliff, and Protea Park in Edenvale.
The author, Tim Truluck, says that while walking his dog in the well-manicured area at Golden Harvest Park in Northgate, he realised that there was another section of the park, containing natural grassland and small streams, that he hadn't explored. This inspired him to consider looking at other parks and their hidden, out-of-the-way areas.
The most recent by-laws indicate that dog owners are allowed to walk their dogs in designated areas of public parks, but that they must have their dogs on a lead, and that they must clean up after their dogs.
Truluck acknowledges that most people ignore the ruling on keeping their dogs on leads, but he warns: "Don't give anybody the excuse for even thinking about banning dogs from parks." The banning of dogs altogether was an issue debated by the City but strenuously and vigorously resisted by residents, before the by-laws were adopted.
Truluck stresses in the introduction that dog owners need to become "more responsible". He encourages them to clean up after their dogs, and to "ensure that dangerous and intimidating dogs (even if they 'don't usually bite') are kept on leads, and go for doggy training".
He goes on to caution that walkers should be wary of problems with vagrants, litter and broken glass in particular, while encouraging walkers to pick up bottles and litter in their favourite parks.
The booklet also contains several pages on getting the best out of your walk - choosing the correct breed of dog, the behaviour of your dog on a walk, and advice on doggy sunburn, allergies, cuts and ticks, and what to do in the case of a dog bite.
Each park in the booklet is illustrated with a map, with the dog walk indicated in dotted lines, and includes other useful information like parking, facilities, safety and the length of the proposed walk.
The book is available from your local vet, at a cost of R20. A list of vets selling the booklet is obtainable from the web site, which will also give you a list of vets who refuse to keep the book, for their own quirky reasons.
The web site, which features Truluck's spunky Jack Russell Pickle, will also inform you about "Dogs in the news" - stories from around the world concerning heroic dogs, dogs on death row, dog licence plates, and police dogs and their handlers.
Each park is on the web site, with a map, so you could print it from the site, but the booklet has much more information.
If your nearest vet doesn't stock the booklet, Truluck says he'll pop one in the post for you (011 442 5201, 072 238 2790 or dogwalk@lantic.net), also for R20.
