00:00The North East is blessed with stunning walking spots for dogs, from sweeping beaches to scenic
00:05coastal paths, but increasing restrictions during the summer months are making it harder for dog
00:10owners to find open spaces. In North Tyneside, for instance, dogs are banned from Colour Coats
00:16Beach from May to September, with limited access zones only at Whitley Bay, Tynemouth and other
00:21areas. Sunderland's Roca Beach enforces a full dog ban during the same period, even in Northumberland,
00:28while some beaches remain dog-friendly, access is confined to specific zones. These seasonal
00:34bans, imposed by local councils to keep the beaches clean during peak seasons, are coming
00:39at a time when green free-running spaces are shrinking due to housing developments and urban
00:44sprawl. This pressure on accessible open areas is compounded by growing safety concerns. Reported
00:51dog-on-dog attacks are rising, leaving many owners feeling increasingly anxious when walking
00:56their pets. Indeed, roughly one-third of North East households own a dog, which is well above
01:02the national average of about 24%. Moreover, the region boasts one of the highest dog densities
01:08per capita across England. On a worrying national scale, offences involving out-of-control dogs
01:15causing injury in England and Wales surged from approximately 19,800 in 2018 to over 31,000 in
01:232023. These statistics highlight real concerns about safety and underscored by owners in the
01:28North East, especially feel constrained and anxious about finding both safe and dog-friendly
01:34walking spaces. The owners of Woodland Woofs in County Durham believe they found the answer
01:39to the growing concern of dog owners across the North East. I'm Sarah-Ann Baxter and we are
01:45currently stood in the play park of Woodland Woofs at Castlecroft Farm near Castleside. Well, obviously
01:52we're a working farm and we wanted to sort of diversify into other things to make the farm
01:58more viable. One of my other jobs, I'm a muscle therapy therapist for animals and I've done that
02:05for 25 years and I've had an awful lot of clients. This has been a number of years in the research who'd said
02:12that they wanted an enclosed space that was calm and they could enjoy the dogs in. So that's where
02:20the idea came from. Well, where we're a bit different obviously we have the two acres behind us of natural
02:27woodland which is all fenced exactly the same and that's quite unique in a dog park. Most are just fields
02:35and my client said that the one thing dogs got a little bit bored if it was just a field whereas the
02:41natural woodland has lots of smells and and they're always got to find new things to do in there.
02:47Nestled away from busy roads and packed beaches, their secure private woodland offers a safe
02:53enclosed space where dogs can run freely off lead without the worry of seasonal barns or aggressive encounters.
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