I think dogs and their owners have the same rights, more if you live in England and Wales(?), as cyclists to be on paths and some trails so never really thought much about it, just accepted it. I was however pretty against dogs at trail centres. I thought they would get in the way, possibly dangerously, and poo in trafficked areas, leading to camelback mouthpiece poo syndrome. Yak. I should say at this point that I rather like nice dogs although I don’t have one myself.
However, I was at Glentress with my mate and his dog last weekend and we had a really nice time. It was a real added dimension to the ride and a lot of fun. She was bright enough not to get run over or get in the way at all, she had a ball, was fun to have around, and although I think she might have taken a dump in the grass off the trail at one point which I didn’t like too much that was it problem-wise.
So yeah, sort of on the fence-ish on this one.
However, I rode in the Pentlands on Sunday and got a mouthfull of horsesh*t which was really effin unpleasant. Horses leave a mountain when they go for it.
Given that most dog owerners do worm their dogs the actual health risk (toxicara canis if you wish to google) is pretty small, although it’s smelly and unpleasant of course. I wonder what you can catch from horse sh*t. Anything? Dicky tummy for sure….