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Home>Your Property>Animals and Pets> Dogs in Public Places

Dogs in Public Places

Be responsible and respectful when walking your dog

Many people and dogs share parks, bushland reserves, shared paths, bicycle paths and the footpaths around our streets and shopping centres. They are provided for all residents of all ages to encourage social opportunities, exercise and pleasant leisure activities. Many people enjoy sharing them with their dogs.

Not everyone likes or understands dogs and some dogs are wary around people they do not know.

To make sure everyone enjoys these shared public places, responsible pet ownership and pet management are needed for safety and health reasons at all times.

Responsible Pet Ownership Rules

To encourage and ensure responsible pet ownership in Knox, rules about dogs in public places were introduced on 10 April 2006. It is important for all dog owners to understand the importance of their role as dog owners for the safety and wellbeing of everyone their dog meets and also for other dogs.

The rules were introduced because the majority of Knox residents who took part in a lengthy, community-wide consultation exercise in 2005 asked Council to act to make sure people are safe from dog attacks, rushing and to avoid stepping in dog faeces (waste) in public places. These rules are about ensuring safety and pleasant access to our public places for all residents of all ages at all times.

Dogs may be off lead in a public park or reserve within Knox (unless it is a bushland conservation area as stipulated below) as long as they are under effective control.

To be under effective control, you must ensure that:

You carry a leash, cord, or chain able to restrain your dog; and
Your dog responds effectively to voice control, or you maintain hand control distance at all times; and
You prevent your dog behaving in a threatening manner; and
You intervene and stop your dog from worrying, chasing, or threatening another person or animal

Designated On-Lead Areas

Egan Lee Reserve
Flamingo Road Reserve
Gilmore Park Retarding Basin
J W Manson Reserve
Koolunga Native Reserve
Lakewood Reserve
Tim Neville Arboretum
Wicks Reserve East and West
W G Morris Reserve
Any reserve where a current organised sporting activity or public meeting is being conducted
Within 10m of any playground or play equipment
Any footpath, bicycle track, walking track, carpark, shopping centre, school, road or naturestrip

Dog waste

The most common ‘dog' complaint to Council is about dog droppings or dog waste on footpaths and in parks. Each day in Victoria over 90 tonnes of dog waste is produced from over 900,000 dogs! Pick up after your pet for a safer environment.

Council’s Amenity Local Law requires dog owners to remove and dispose of their dog's waste in public places. It is also an offence not to carry a receptacle (e.g. bag or scoop) to remove dog waste. Dog owners or people taking dogs for walks must also carry a plastic bag or a similar item able to pick up and remove all dog droppings every time dogs are walked.