A Little About Dogs

Among all the animals we keep in Rheenendal, dogs are certainly the most common. This raises some questions about how we generally deal with the dogs of our neighbours, tenants and guests. Here is some neighbour-friendly advice.

ANIMAL KEEPING BY-LAW

What about complaints?

Let's play nice.

Dogs are our best line of defence here, but how many are enough? Well, if you're a dog-lover, emotionally, there's no maximum.

Unfortunately, the law still applies to residents on agricultural-zoned properties – which states the maximum number of dogs allowed, per property, to be six adults (over the age of six months).

But, we'd like each other to play nice. So, if our dogs behave well, there should be no reason for complaints, right?

If you have a trouble-maker – whether it's sneaking out onto the road, barking too much, or chasing the neighbour's chickens – there is hope. Happy Dogs offers amazing training, including snake training, to keep your fur babies from playing with danger.

HAPPY DOGS TRAINING SCHOOL

Unfortunately, more often than we'd like, a dog sneaks out and ends up on our busy road.

These things happen. It's not necessarily because the owner doesn't care enough to secure the boundaries or because the dog feels neglected at home. Some dogs are just curious. Sometimes a gate is left open. And sometimes we just don't have control over what our dogs do when we're not home.

So, be a friendly neighbour and try to help:

Try to take a picture (or at least a good look, so you can provide a decent description).
Post it on the Whatsapp group, with an indication of where the dog was last spotted and in which direction it was running.
If you can and wish to do so, pick up the dog to prevent it from being run over. Put it back in the property or take it home and try to find the owner from there.
Preferably, avoid taking it to KAWS (animal welfare) without attempting the above first, as this will result in its owner having to collect all the way from town – which might not be immediately possible.

Dog-Friendly Beaches

Guests often ask about where (and when) dogs are allowed on our Blue Flag beaches.

Knysna's three main beaches are dog-friendly. During peak holiday times, dog walking is restricted by SANParks to before 09:00 and after 18:00.

In Sedgefield, Cola beach is dog friendly, as well as Myoli beach (but on a leash). During peak season, dogs are allowed outside of 09:00 - 17:00. Swartvlei (from Gericke's Point up to Myoli) is a no dog zone.

Wilderness beach is sectioned into green, yellow and red zones to symbolise their dog-friendly status.

SEDGEFIELD BEACHES RESTRICTIONS

WILDERNESS BEACHES RESTRICTIONS

Bollards Bay

At Bollards Bay, on Leisure Island, dogs are allowed to splash and have fun across the entire lagoon-beach area, off the leash.

Brenton-on-Sea

At Brenton, the dog-friendly zone is 300 metres west of the second lifesaving flag (or just a good stretch down the beach towards Buffalo Bay, if there are no flags).

Buffalo Bay

At Buffalo Bay, dogs can play east of the last beach residence. Here, it is requested that dogs stay on a leash at all times to protect the African Black Oystercatchers and white-fronted plovers which breed here.