Legoland Windsor

[Tim]

I hate to break it to you, as a fellow dog lover, but there is unsanitary, and there is dangerous...the risks from dog dirt are far greater than from the general risks of flooring.

Much increased risk of e coli, toxocariasis, and salmonella, amongst others.
Parasites can cause blindness.

The research studies are all out there.

Pavements are unhygenic, dog fouled ones are a far greater risk.

I would still prefer dogs to be allowed in parks, just a bit late for me.

Point well made, and I don't disagree with that. What I will say though is having seen some of the other "hygiene spills" that happen on those paths, and that they happen fairly frequently, I think the issue is still being overstated.

Something else I think that needs baring in mind is that at parks where dogs are allowed it's still only a very small percentage of guests that actually bring their dogs. Because ultimately most people, even if given the choice, don't want to bring their dog to a theme park. It's far more convenient to organise a dog sitter than it is to bring the dog with you. And you go in knowing you'll still be limited in what you can do.
This is why it works at other parks. Because the type of people who are actually committed to bring their dogs with them are usually responsible owners.
I must stress the word 'usually', because you will always get the odd 1 that isn't, but I think we are widely overestimating how many people would commit to visiting with a dog, but then wouldn't act responsibly when they are at the park. There will be some, but nowhere near as many as you'll find letting their dogs defile the average street. Hence my initial comparison.

I do have some reservations with the way this is being trialed. For example is their a list of banned breeds? Because if not their really should be. Also limiting it to only a few day makes it like a special event, which does introduce the danger that lots of people all bring their dogs at the same time, rather than our experience at Europa where you might only see 1 or 2 groups a day. Admittedly I counted far more dogs at LEGOLAND Billund than at Europa, but then that park is smaller.