Members Web

Barking Mad is busy behind the scenes. We are in discussion with four NSW ministers taking up the issues of discrimination and social disadvantage that the current anti-dog laws foster. Talks are going very well. The Member’s Area of the web is growing and all the juicy news on the rights you REALLY have (not the ones that your local council may want you to believe) are in this section. We're involved in challenges for several of our members including dogs prohibited in unit dwellings, penalty notices issued outside of juristiction or improperty and harassment or targetted campaigns by rangers.

Campaiging and the Law

We have received the latest guide to rights and responsibilities for campaigning and the law in NSW. Very handy stuff and available to loan to members.

New Web Pages

Thanks to members for two new web pages: How you can help now and member comments. Check these out and be inspired by the dedication and creativity of Barking Mad members. We also have a family page coming soon!

Warringah Council meeting

Warringah Council Animal Advisory Committee Meeting - Barking Mad will be presenting to their next meeting on the 9th August. Let us know if you want to attend. Although we think the issues are more about equity for community members and less about animals, we welcome this opportunity. When we attended another Council's meeting - not one member could come up with a REASON on why dogs are prohibited from beaches. All reasons that were provided (all being different), were normal things in all of society, like crowded footpaths.

Oh my dog!

A Puppy has entered the home and offices of Barking Mad. How do you people all do it? It is SO full on, especially in contrast to my truly quiet natured border collie Pema. He's beautiful, loving and confident. I work when he is asleep. I wake up at least 3x night for trips outside. I've been standing in the rain a lot lately in the middle of the night. I have named him Pasha.

Cleaning up in the storm

We're cleaning up from the storm here on the pet-friendly Central Coast beaches of NSW. On the afternoon (beach) dog walk today, I hesitantly bagged Pema's poo she dropped at water's edge - on an incoming tide. Here I am a passionate advocate for composting and for keeping green and food waste out of our anaerobic (no-air) landfills because of the toxicity and methane problems they create in a dump – and I’m picking up Pema’s organic waste in a plastic bag to place in a council rubbish bin and truck off to landfill. Why do I do this? Because it’s the ‘law’ and as the proprietor of Barking Mad, there is a sneaking suspicion that certain council rangers want to ‘bag’ me.

Does it make sense to do this? Absolutely not! Dog poo is less toxic than human poo because they ingest fewer chemicals, heavy metals and pharmaceuticals. After this huge storm, Sydney Water legally dumped tonnes of human sewage into waterways; regional centres also sent sewage into waterways.

The ocean is brown, warnings are current to stay out of the water due to sewage and I’m picking up Pema’s little poos on an incoming tide with a plastic bag that was made overseas (from oil), shipped here (with fuel and associated pollution), trucked to my local store where I bought it (being taxed first on my income and secondly on my purchase), then using the bag to pick up a totally natural product to truck to a landfill far away where it will slowly decompose and create methane.

Some of that methane will not escape to assist global warming, but will stay in the landfill and breakdown the REALLY toxic things in there to create groundwater pollution. Pema’s poo would have been better in the ocean today; no one would have stepped on it and the world would be a minute bit cleaner. Laws do not always make sense. Remember, when you parallel park with less than one metre between you and the car in the front and the rear – you are breaking the law!