Dogs are family

My husband and I are lucky enough to have 2 dogs, and they are our family. We do not live in the Clarence Councul area but frequent the dog friendly beaches and spend money at the local Bellerive cafes. We do everything with our dogs and do not visit places that exclude dogs or where they are not welcome.

It is disheartening that we are now having to justify why we need to protect a number of dog friendly areas in the Clarence Council area.

To exclude dogs is to exclude and discriminate against a large portion of the community and their family members. We all need to broaden our definition of a family as society is changing and now, as recent studies show, families increasingly include a dog, and are better for it.