Regular readers will recall an abortive attempt made some months ago by Haddenham Parish Council to enact the means to ensure more rigorous controls over dogs in specific areas of the village.
A vociferous and articulate group of dog lovers argued forcefully that the proposed 'Dog Control Orders' were unnecessary, as the appropriate legal powers already existed and responsible dog owners do not need to feel alienated by heavy-handed by-laws.
Sadly, it appears that not all dog lovers in Haddenham are as responsible as their fellow owners might anticipate.
A mother of a young family has asked this website to cover her account of a distressing episode in the Haddenham Recreation Ground on Wednesday afternoon, 28th October.
Dear Editor
I was in the Haddenham park on Wednesday afternoon with a group of friends. Our children aged 4 and 6 years were all out on the sports field playing football, near the basketball court. A group of people were also on the sports field, walking their dogs.
One particular lady was the other side of the cricket pitch over by the bmx track. Her dogs approached us off the lead. The next thing I knew, the dogs had both begun to chase my daughter and cause her to lose her shoes and reduce her to floods of tears. She was terrified.
The lady finally managed to control the dogs, once I had picked my daughter up.
She made no attempt to acknowledge what had happened, to check if my daughter was okay, or, indeed, to apologise.
My daughter is four years old and said to me on the way home that she now hates dogs and never wants to be near one again!
I have worked hard with my children to ensure they always ask if they can speak to a dog rather than just approaching. So I am sure you can understand my annoyance and anger.
This experience has made me even more aware of the impact of local dogs. As a regular 'boot camper', taking exercise in the Recreation Ground with FitLife Project, there are increasingly more dogs on the playing field and they always seem keen to join in with our workout.
And to top things off I came home from a session last week, after exercising on the playing field, covered in dog poo.
I was under the impression that dogs are not allowed in the children's playing fields!
There seems to be an increasing number of people walking their dogs off the leads on the fields.
Note from Editor:
A photograph of the lady mentioned above, with her two dogs, has also been submitted with this account. It does not seem appropriate to publish the image at this time
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