Why man’s best friend should be allowed a hassle-free run on beach

LISTEN, I’ve no intention of being unfaithful, and I certainly won’t forget the loved ones in my life today.

But I want to let you into a secret.

This year I’m sending Izzie a Valentine’s Day card.

Izzie is getting on. In fact, she’s a fine old lady now, still handsome and still physically well, but deaf as a post, and sometimes lost in her own world. (A bit like me, actually – except maybe not the handsome bit.) She had a bereavement last year, although it didn’t seem to bother her too much. But she still loves life, and she still responds brilliantly to any little show of affection.

We reckon that Izzie will be 98 this year. In dog years, that is — we’ve had her for 14 years now, since she was a tiny, furry, excitable pup. Her ears will still perk up instantly if she hears the word “walk”, and she’ll still chase a stick with the best of them.

But the cats in the neighbourhood, who used to run a mile when they heard our front door opening, just laugh at her now. They know they can easily outrun her. And even though, in the past, she did now and again get involved in the occasional scrap with other dogs, those days are long gone.

But she’s an integral part of the family, always has been. Izzie helped, in all sorts of ways, to raise our children. She taught them decent values about animals, and she taught them not to be afraid. And she has always been a protector — she will guard the house with her life if she has to.

Izzie is a biggish dog — possibly a cross between a red setter and a collie. I’ve always thought collies were highly intelligent and setters were as daft as a brush (no disrespect to some of the red setters I know!). Izzie is the perfect cross in that sense — sometimes so bright you’d reckon she could talk, and sometimes as thick as a plank.

She had a great pal for most of her life Doglet. Doglet died last year, and left us devastated. The tiniest dog in Ireland — an Australian silkie — she had the largest personality of any dog I ever met. Now there was a dog who could talk! And because silkies were bred to chase rats out of Australian mines, Doglet, despite her size, was utterly fearless. Whenever she encountered a great Dane, or any of those enormous dogs who could swipe her out of the way with a paw, Doglet always wanted to face them down. C’mon, her expression would say, make my day, punk. More often than not (thank goodness) the bigger dog would back down.

Oddly enough, when Doglet died (she was 15 we think — older than little dogs normally get) we thought Izzie would pine away. Not a bit of it. It immediately became clear that Izzie had been harbouring a secret resentment at the fact that she had never been allowed to sit on anyone’s lap, while Doglet spent every evening curled up with someone. Doglet’s death actually gave Izzie a new lease of life — for the first time she was the undisputed main dog.

But while she was alive, Doglet and Izzie made a remarkable team. You couldn’t take them for a walk without attracting attention, and I suspect that if we’d had a public funeral for Doglet hundreds would have come.

Mind you, I’m pretty sure that if Dun Laoghaire County Council ever found out we were thinking of having a funeral for Doglet, they’d have found a way to put a stop to it. Traffic, or parking, or noise, or something. They don’t like dogs in Dun Laoghaire County Council, and they don’t approve of dog owners. I imagine that the thought of someone weeping over a dead dog would be entirely alien to them down in County Hall.

You may have heard there’s a big debate in our area about the degree to which dogs are made welcome anywhere. Little by little, the dogs of Dun Laoghaire, and their owners, are being told they’re not wanted.

It used to be the case that our dogs, for instance, were free to run on the beaches that mark the coastline around here. And they loved it — Izzie, particularly, would swim to Wales if you let her. Bye-laws were introduced in 2009 to limit their access to the beaches, so they were no longer allowed between 10 in the morning and 7 in the evening from June to September.

That was tough, but fair. Beaches are for families in those times, and not everyone loves a wet and excitable dog, it has to be admitted. And there have always been some dog owners who are poor at cleaning up after their dogs.

But now it’s proposed to forbid dogs from some of the beaches altogether, all year round, and to extend the time they are banned from others. There are times when the beaches are entirely deserted, but for some reason the council has decided that even then, there’s no way Izzie is going to be allowed to roll in the sand — one of her favourite all-time activities.

And even worse, there’s now a debate under way about the notion of banning dogs from running on Killiney Hill. If you don’t know Killiney Hill, take it from me that it is one of the great natural amenities of any city in the world. It has accessible walks, beautiful woodlands, a couple of intriguing monuments, and the most spectacular views of the sea all the way to Wales, the mountains as far south as Wicklow, and the entire city of Dublin.

For all my adult life — and I’ve walked every inch of it, hundreds of times — Killiney Hill has been a dog’s paradise. It’s one of the last places in Dublin where dogs are allowed to run free. I have to say that it seems to me cruel and heartless to take that away.

I understand all too well the issues around dog-fouling, barking, and the like. Those things aren’t the fault of dogs — they’re the fault of dog owners.

Not everyone agrees, of course. A recent editorial in the Irish Times took the Council’s side, in a rather po-faced way. On the other hand, around 700 people turned up at a public meeting a couple of Sundays ago to protest at the threat to their beloved pets. That’s more people than have ever protested in one place against septic tank charges, or the household tax. Surely that means something? I reckon most of us who are animal lovers would be prepared to pay a little more to the council to enable them to increase the number of dog wardens they employ. Surely it makes more sense to police the dog owners more effectively — and to punish the offenders — than to penalise everyone who values the enormous contribution that an animal can make to human well-being. Dog ownership has its responsibilities, for sure, but it should never be seen as anti-social.

But in the meantime Izzie old girl, happy Valentines Day. County hall mightn’t love you, but we do. And we always will.