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Auckland Council is considering whether to implement rules for walking multiple dogs (for example commercial dog walkers with many dogs on leads at one time) after a review found that they were overrepresented in incident statistics.
The issue was one of the findings of a review of dog management bylaw and policy endorsed by council’s Regulatory and Community Safety Committee meeting on July 2.
While the report said such incidents were mostly low impact, the representation was disproportionate.
Dog walkers with multiple dogs made up 36 percent of aggressive incidents and 31 percent of chasing wildlife in shared spaces, the report said.
Chair Josephine Bartley noted that commercial dog walking was unregulated and wondered if a bylaw could help.
Senior policy advisor Kylie Hill confirmed council would investigate whether or not it could add rules for walking multiple dogs, with one option being to potentially limit the number of dogs that one person could walk.
Council staff will present a number of options for the bylaw at the end of the year.
