Despite a dog ban in the Triangle there were a few staff/bull thingy's in there on Sunday and some parents including us decided to leave as a result; they may not have been dangerous but they could well have run into a small child and knocked them over. I am not scared of dogs but have learned to be wary of these particular breeds due to their unpredictability.

I would also like to know whether staffordshire bull terriers are banned, and how you can tell them apart from pit bulls and cross breeds etc.

There do seem to be a really high proportion of these bull terrier type dogs in Forest Hill, or is it just something that is common in London generally? I'm often crossing the road to avoid those sort of dogs when I'm with my toddler (especially after the recent snarling incident I mentioned earlier) as I just don't trust them (or their owners) I'm afraid.

I'm not a dog hater by any means - plenty of my friends and family have lovely well-behaved dogs. But I am just getting so fed-up, what with the daily dog-poo-assault-course, and then also avoiding the bull terriers, I feel like my life is being dictated to by other people's pets.

(By the way Roz my daughter loves your butterfly!)

Thank you Vipes for pointing this out.

Based on the other thread's information (click here), I had concluded that the meeting was only about the Horniman Gardens.

I now observe that this public meeting is a part of the Tewkesbury Lodge Residents Association's AGM.

All further information is available at the TLRA's AGM part of their website.

Also, see the Tewkesbury Lodge Residents Association's website here and here.

i walk my dog in horniman every single day ..

i only let him off the lead in the designated part

i clean up his poo

i hardly see any other dogs at all in there .. certainly not any tree swinging hounds ..


i agree that pavement poo is immensely annoying... i suspect these "delinquent " owners of the "look at me , i'm 'ard"- type dogs are not likely to be carrying a pooper scooper ... rather spoils the image i should think

Please Note that due to the very limited space available in the Dutch Barn, access to this meeting will be limited to those living in the Tewkesbury Lodge Estate Area and their guests. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Hmmm. The gardens are used by everyone in Forest Hill so surely everyone should be welcome? The Dutch Barn is of course not the only venue available.

To expand on my last post. This meeting has been organised by the Committee of the Tewkesbury Lodge Estate Residents' Association as part of our Annual General Meeting. The intention is to provide the opportunity for the Horniman Museum to inform our residents of their plans for the development of the Horniman Gardens. We routinely use the Dutch Barn for our AGM. It was not our intention that the meeting should be advertised outside the Estate and the Dutch Barn is simply not big enough to accommodate everyone that might be interested in the subject. The Horniman Museum has advertised their desire to receive feedback on their proposals and, no doubt, will organise their own meetings if there is sufficient demand / interest.

Maybe it's a time-of-day thing (the couple of hours after schools kick out) because I also seemed to spend half of last summer worrying about uncontrolled dogs in areas of the Horniman gardens where dogs are not allowed. On one occasion my 2 year old was flattened by one of the terrier breeds which was after my son's ball. The owner had so little control over the dog and the ball was returned quite some time later after a minor savaging. My son thought it was hilarious. I didn't.

I was also charged by a terrier-cross in Dulwich Park last week, while I slowly cycled through. Then again, uncontrolled Dulwich Park toddlers nearly knock me down on a daily basis on my commute home through the park.

I managed to sneak in despite not having lived at the top of that hill this century. They are planning another public meeting in June where more final details will be discussed but the plans, on the whole, look good. There is a need for some changes to improve the draft, but they were listening and will continue to do so. I shall try to put more details on the web soon.

As a responsible dog owner I find some of your comments really annoying. My dog is only allowed off his lead in the dog area of the park but when we walk around the other areas of the park we always have him on his lead and always clean up after him. On most occassions that I have been to the park there are people there with young children and I can never understand why they take them into the dog area when they know that there will be dogs there who may or may not be on leads. My dog is a large Staffordshire Bull Terrier and has the sweetest nature going and he is very well trained. We often have young kids run over to him and when this happens I call him back. What usually happens is that the parents come over and ask if the child can pet him. I am more than happy for them to do that as I know what a gentle soul he is. Obviously no dog could be trusted 100% and we know from the press that even child friendly dogs can turn. I think there should be more supervision in the park and wardens around so that if a dog or owner is causing a nuisance then they can be banned. I don't think there should be an automatic ban. I do have a garden and of course let my dog use it but there is nothing nicer than having a large green space for the dogs to run and play in. So to any dog owners that don't clean up after their dogs and to those who do let their dogs of leads in the non dog areas why not try sticking to the rules and not spoiling what is normally a very pleasant day out. By the way to the person who can't tell the difference between a Pit and a Staff just look at some pictures on the net they really are quite easy to tell apart.

Which comments did you find annoying?

Its the comments regarding little childrend in the dog area. Why allow kids to run around there if they don't want the kids to come into contact with dogs. I am a Mother as well as a dog owner I understand that dog poo can be dangerous and, obviously, unpleasant but as a responsible owner who picks up after her dog I don't see why all dogs should be banned. If they want to ban dogs from other areas of the park then so be it I am up for that people should be able to walk around a public park without being accosted by dogs (on or of leads) or mess but I don't see how people can complain about the dogs in an area that has been specifically set aside for them. To be perfectly honest whenever we have been there we hardly see any other dogs there anyway and the ones that are there have always been very friendly both to us and to other dogs. I take my dog to the park every morning and every evening and have never had any bother from other dogs. I will say that some owners do not pick up after their dogs and I have pointed this out to some of them who do (after going very red faced) go back and clean up so maybe there should be a warden assigned to do this or more people we are willing to speak up.

So essentially you're offended at the idea children should want to run around a nice big sloping field!? The fact is a lot of dog owners using that park are less responsible than you. I and my little boy walked past two lots of dog poo on the landscaped slopes in front of the sunken garden on Sunday morning.

Anyway why should that lower field - the only largish green expanse in the entire park - be set aside for dogs at the exclusion of children. Any kid would love tearing around that nice big sloping field. The other little pockets of green in the park are just that. Not big enough - especially when the sunbathers are out. Frankly, it's a bizzarre inversion of priorities in an otherwise child-friendly institution.

I never said I was offended by the idea of Children running around! They can run around all they like but at the end of the the day its an area designated to dogs off leads and if you don't want your children to be near dogs then its best to keep them away from there. It is a lovely field but it is in the back corner of the park away from the Cafe and other park amenities and its the only place locally that gives permission for dogs to be off lead and where they can run around. There are lots other parks in the area where you can take children that do not allow dogs of leads or even allow dogs. You mention that you saw two lots of dog poo on the landscaped slopes in front of the sunken garden you should report it to a park official and then maybe something would be done about it. I think if more people reported things like dogs of leads and dog owners not picking up poo then something would be done about it.

I don't let my daughter go in the dogs-designated area at the Horniman, and I never said that I would - the problem is that other, less responsible, people let their dogs poo and run in the other areas, particularly the grassy areas furthest away from the museum (I guess they think they won't be seen from there) which is a shame as that is just where children like to stretch their legs (toddlers need their reins-free exercise just like dogs do!)

There aren't that many local parks that I know of that don't allow dogs! Mayow Park, Blythe Hill and One Tree Hill are always full of dogs and dog poo. The Triangle is supposed to be dog-free but as others have pointed out this doesn't happen. If I saw some wardens around I'd love to report all the dog-mess I see, and the dog-owners not picking up poo. I've tried challenging owners about it, but the last time just got laughed at. There is simply no incentive to make the irresponsible dog-owners more responsible, and unfortunately this is something that Lewisham Council have to tackle.

As I've said before, this problem isn't just an inconvenience, and as much as we all love dogs we do have to bear in mind that this problem it is actually dangerous to humans.

Sorry if I give the impression that I don't care about kids - I do. As I have said before I am a mum. Maybe if more people spoke up this would be less of an issue. Maybe a letter to the parks dept at lewisham counsel would help.

Hi Woodvale,

I suspect you'd be barking up the wrong tree.

Maybe another SE23.com Forum Reader can provide further information but I imagine that the Horniman Museum and Gardens are outside of Lewisham Council's remit. Are they privately owned?

there are lots of grassy slopes in the play park which is designated JUST for children and dogs aren't allowed


frankly i think this whole argument is ridiculous...

we might as well say lets ban all children from the park cos some of them ride bikes which the signage at the entrance clearly forbids

or shall we say that people can't sunbathe or picnic on the bottom field (which they do despite being the designated "dog field") ... the sausage rolls are clearly a distraction for my dog , and he gets scared by the naked flesh


i have children AND a dog .. i am a responsible parent and dog owner




i have children AND a dog

duh .. i think i quoted the wrong post in my last reply

(couldn't work out how to use the quote function initially and i mucked it up )

hope you got the gist of the rant anyway