Take the Lead and be responsible dog owners in the Denbighshire countryside

The Council and the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty have joined forces to launch this year’s campaign, encouraging people to keep their dogs on leads in the county’s open countryside.

The Take the Lead campaign is now in its third year and is being launched ahead of the start of the holiday season this Easter.  The campaign is targeting local residents and visitors to the countryside and wants to build on the success of previous years’ initiative.

The campaign includes production of videos that will be shared on social media, features in the local media and online and direct engagement with people visiting the county’s scenic countryside.

We were delighted by the success of last year’s campaign and it seemed that people were listening to the message. We saw far more people acting responsibly and taking their dogs on leads in the countryside – and we would like to thank them for their efforts.

However this is a kind of message that needs to be repeated time and time again to gain its maximum impact, so we will be sharing our campaign messages with locals and visitors and encourage the small minority who flout the law to take action.

We have seen some incidents where sheep have been injured or killed as a result of attacks from dogs off their leads. We have spoken to farmers who have lost sheep or have had their animals attacked.  This really can be avoided by working together with dog owners, sending home the message that dogs should be kept on leads.  We can really make a difference.

We appreciate why people would want to go on walks in our scenic countryside in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Many walkers bring dogs with them and whilst we want that to continue, all we are asking is that people respect the Countryside Code.

There are plenty of warning signs and information about taking dogs on leads and we will be out and about over the coming months talking to owners and sharing our message to as wide an audience as possible.