Illustration by John Sadler www.johnsadlerillustration.com

• DOG owners should be aware that the City of London’s regulations, due to take effect next April, cover two separate issues – a licensing scheme for professional dog walkers, which people may know about, and a code of conduct for anybody walking their dog or dogs on Hampstead Heath.

Due to woefully inadequate publicising and reporting of the issue interested parties would be best advised to check the Pooches of Hampstead Heath Facebook page for information on a subject which will almost certainly change their lives for ever.

The code of conduct stipulates under “unacceptable behaviour” that you should not walk more than four dogs at once and avoid congregating with other dog walkers if this means there are more than four dogs present in one place at any one time.

This immediately presents a problem for the chap who has been happily walking his six standard poodles on the Heath for nearly 50 years. Under the new regulations he would not be able to do this, even if his wife is with him!

Bearing in mind that the largest users (stakeholders in City of London terms) of the Heath are quite probably the dog-owning community who are a very sociable group of daily visitors, frequently walking their dogs together.

I regret that many of us will be breaching the code of conduct, largely in ignorance. I do wonder how the dog-owning community will react when challenged about their “unacceptable behaviour” after decades of pleasant walks together.

ANNA FARLOW
Friends of Hampstead Heath
Lyndale Avenue, NW2