Dogs Worldwide

Enviro-crime is the collective term for the criminal and anti-social acts which spoil streets for the public and residents alike such as dog fouling as well as litter, graffiti, and fly-tipping. It is increasingly recognised as a significant disadvantage to economic, environmental and social sustainability within society, leading to environmental exclusion by affecting the quality of life and indirectly increases the fear of crime. (Source: ODPM Drivers of Exclusion Report 2002).

Groundwork has been working for sometime with several partners including Islington Council and EC1 New Deal to address the problem of dog fouling in Islington by raising awareness about fouling and dog behaviour issues amongst school children and the general public.
Regents Canal

Dog fouling was particularly bad along the Regent’s canal towpath. Groundwork teamed up with local primary schools, Hanover School and Blessed Sacrament School, to raise awareness about the problem of dog fouling and dog behaviour amongst the general public in March 2005.

Groundwork ran several sessions in various primary schools near to where dog fouling was a particular problem, and Islington Council’s Animal Welfare Officer and Groundwork ran assemblies on dog behaviour and dog fouling in each school. Pupils that took part in flag-making workshops near to their schools to place the flags near areas where dog fouling is an obvious problem, to send a message to dog owners to act more responsibility, and pick up after their dogs.

Dog Strategy and training events

More recently, Groundwork has been working in partnership with London Borough of Islington Greenspace team to produce and deliver a Dog Strategy to deal with dog mess and other canine “misbehaviour” across the borough. Islington Council identified 8 ‘hotspots’ areas across the borough. Islington Council and Groundwork are organising eight dog training events for all types of dog of any age. The training, which is open to all dog owners, will focus in on everyday problems such as excessive barking and poor obedience and will also raise awareness among owners of responsible dog ownership including clearing up after their pets.

Groundwork has been organising workshops in schools local to the hotspots. Pupils have been designing anti-dog fouling flags and posters which display drawings, facts, slogans or poems. The class visits their local ‘hotspot’ where they place their flags or posters in areas which suffer from persistent dog fouling. This raises awareness with local dog walkers about the problems associated with not clearing up after their dog. The pupils also take the message home to their friends and family. Pupils at Copenhagen Community School designed flags during a workshop and then they visited Edward Square and Regent’s Canal of Caledonian Road.

Partners and funders for all the above projects include the London Borough of Islington and EC1 New Deal for Communities and Hanover School, Blessed Sacrament School, Copenhagen Community School.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 12:22 and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.