Dog walking in Waikato
 

Calling all dog walkers .......

Flew the dogs over in March but can't find anywhere decent to go on long walks. DOC in Waikato are very dog unfriendly so few tracks to take them on.

We are surrounded by farm land and I can understand farmers don't want dogs near they're cattle and sheep, we have a small grass area to let the dogs run but I miss walking round woods for hours.

Any suggestions on nice woods/fields to walk round? We live in Te Kauwhata.

Thank you ^..^

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

Might also be a good idea to post in Trade Me Community forum under Pets & Animals, lots of Waikato people there.
Sorry no help but I think you have already found quite different walking dogs here compared to UK. I am lucky here in Palmerston North as we have many places to walk dogs off leash, the council is pretty good for providing places. I walk my two greyhounds every day for about an hour and have about 4 or 5 regular places away from roads that I visit on a regular basis.

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

you do have to be careful, even in the DOC areas that allow dog walking as there are often poison bait traps dotted around them.

Have you tried the beach heading north from Port Waikato, I know its not a woodland walk but plenty of space for dogs to run for miles

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

Thanks for the info/advice, will try Trade Me and Port Waikato.

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

if you go on youtube and search for "1080 poison" you will find lots of videos on it and what it looks like etc, and what to watch out for.

Its usually bright luminescent green, but can change over time, and it breaks down and gets spread around by wildlife.

Its pretty horrific stuff, and is meant to kill possums and other pests, but it also ends up killing dogs, sheep, cattle, horses... anything that eats it, including birds like the kea that its supposed to be protecting. Ive read some pretty upsetting stories of people finding their beloved horses dead in the paddock and finding their lost dog out in the bush, dying a painful death.

It should be banned IMO.

http://ban1080.co.nz/wp-content/uplo...py-960x350.jpg

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

Some info.

1080 poison: New Zealand pest control methods

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

Some info.

Cheapskate answer that has been shown to not really work

Re: Dog walking in Waikato
 

I live in Hamilton and at the weekends sometimes walk around Lake Waahi in Huntley. It says dogs on leashes but I never do - takes about 50 minutes but honestly, for NZ, it is about as good as it gets. Been here 8 years but still miss everyday my dog walks and the walking in general. I always wondered why people in NZ walk around the streets but I now know why! Drove all the way to Muriwai Beach yesterday to have a fantastic day out with the dogs but that is a very rare occasion. Funnily enough I think urban areas in NZ are more dog friendly as Hamilton CC provides a few off leash parks. When we were rural exercising the dogs was a complete nightmare. Funny I would never have lived in a city in the UK.