Panel members got together for a third workshop on Saturday 15 July at the St Kilda Town Hall to continue deliberating on the principles underpinning the Dog Off-Leash Guidelines.

Seven of our councillors joined the panel to listen to a talk by Lesley Humphreys from Paws4Play and meet panel members over morning tea.

Lesley has been a recreation, open space and community planner and policy writer for over 25 years, and is a dog behaviour expert. She has worked extensively with various local government areas to support in the planning and provision for dogs. Her presentation, and subsequent responses to questions, offered an informative and insightful view on best practice and research into what needs to be considered when planning for dogs.

Panel members spent the remainder of the session in groups testing the principles and related statements to see how they might be used in action. Three different scenarios, based on real life petitions received, were posed to the groups that workshopped how the principles might be used to guide decision-making. Groups provided recommendations on the scenarios and identified where there were gaps in the principles and statements.

From here, the project team will refine the principles and statements before the next session for final fine-tuning.

We are looking forward to our fourth and final session, online on Tuesday evening 25 July from 6.30pm.