For the last year, since we moved here, I have been happily using the local recrecreation ground to allow Luke to have a good off lead run and play with his ball. The information board on our entrance to the park says that dogs must be kept under control. I always put him back on lead if another dog appears, or obviously if there are other activities going on. However, today we walked back into the area from the other entrance, where for the first time I noticed one of those signs with a red circle stating that dogs should be kept on leads, with a £500 penalty....whoops! If this is enforceable, should it not be apparent at both entrances? The ground is managed by the local parish council.

Any comments?

Hi Carene,

I think there is a lot of confusion about this subject, not least in the minds of local councils.  In our area we have two parks, one small and thronged with people, one large and thronged with dogs and people.  Neither has any regulations posted about anything (they would have been seen off long since) but both have poo bins and both have dogs on and off leads.  This is Birmingham (where Staffies rule) and I think the Council takes a pretty laid back approach but we noticed a similar confusion on holiday in Cornwall: one entrance to a walk would have the symbol for 'dog on lead' while others would just have 'bag it and bin it signs'.  Not much help to the law-abiding dog owner - much like this posting I suppose.