Auckland Council tightens leash amid crackdown on city’s dogs
Sunday, 17 August 2025
Auckland is tightening the leash on roaming dogs and unruly owners - a crackdown that’s sparked a dogfight over how much freedom the city’s 110,000 registered canines should have. Jonathan Killick reports.
Daniel Lockwood’s property in Glen Innes is home to more huskies than a Siberian sled track. At one point, animal control staff say, as many as 35 of the Arctic working dogs were padding in and out of his Tāmaki state house - a claim he disputes, though he acknowledges he’s “gotten off track” with the number of dogs.
What is not in question is the paperwork: 52 infringement notices, $15,200 in fines, and a committee hearing that would decide whether he could keep any dogs at all.
Lockwood’s case is another flashpoint in an ongoing supercity campaign that’s also seen footballers and dog-walkers in Ōrākei wrestling for control of a park, and Auckland Council bringing in debt collectors to chase fines and registration fees.
By Thursday afternoon, Lockwood’s verdict was in. He was banned from owning dogs for five years - the culmination of months of council interventions, several impoundments, a black swan incident, and an ill-fated budgie encounter.
Officers told a committee they had offered “multiple times” to desex all his dogs, warning members 'we are going to be looking at 80 dogs in another 12 months'.
But, Lockwood, who lives with ADHD and PTSD from a serious bicycle crash injury, told councillors the animals gave him “a higher purpose in life” and had helped him “rehabilitate' akin to a service animal.
In rebuttal, staff noted that they were 'not certified mental health dogs', posing the delicate question: how do you weigh one man’s therapy pack against a neighbourhood’s peace of mind?
Committee member Ngarimu Blair congratulated Lockwood on being able to recall a list of at least a couple dozen dog names, before querying whether he could “survive with two dogs like most people”.
Lockwood was unpersuaded: “My dogs are an integral unit. They work together, they are a family. And to be honest, I found them to be quieter and more well-behaved and better managed together as a group.”
Lockwood’s hearing was just one on the docket as Auckland Council tightens its leash on what it calls “irresponsible” ownership. The crackdown includes neighbourhood nuisance surveys, bark diaries, and a push for more power under the Dog Control Act.
Already, a review of which parks allow off-leash access has sparked a High Court challenge - and a citywide debate over the rights of Auckland’s 110,000 registered dogs.
As increasing intensification pushes households into closer quarters, a council survey last year highlighted supposed grievances, with common pet peeves including owners not picking up doggy doos, packs of dogs taking up pathways, and roaming animals.
For some, the canine crackdown is much-needed nuisance management, but for others it's the thin end of the wedge, threatening the social fabric between humans and their oldest domestic ally.
Dr Nik Taylor, a University of Canterbury expert in human-animal relationships, says it was always going to be an emotionally charged debate.
“A lot of people say they prefer dogs to most humans. They're a big deal. They go on holidays with us, they sleep in our beds and we celebrate their birthdays,” she says. “Dog people are pretty fanatical … they’re not going to take [restrictions] lying down and I would imagine there will be strong resistance.”
Hillsborough's Jonathan Sweeney knows that firsthand. As spokesperson for Dog Lovers of Monte Cecilia Park, he’s fronting a legal fight against the Puketāpapa Local Board’s decision to strip the park’s off-leash status.
After a court-ordered stay, Sweeney told his 3300 members “the war will still go on, but this is a huge battle that we’ve won at this point”.
The group’s response was “Poochella,” a day-long protest attended by young and old that, he says, “flew in the face of [the council’s] narrative that off-leash represents a ‘significant risk’”.
“One of my big frustrations with the council - we’re always told what we can’t do, but where’s the solutions?” Sweeney says.
“If you put more dogs into a confined space, you create tension. It's the nature of the beast that they're going to be angsty.”
With 40,000 registered football players in Auckland and nearly three times as many registered dog owners, he questions, “why aren’t we treated as having the same rights [in parks]?”
Council officials counter that the push isn’t about marginalising anyone, it’s about safety.
Licensing and compliance general manager Robert Irvine says dog attacks are under-reported, with 1341 incidents officially logged last year by the council, while ACC data shows four times as many. That’s why the council wants mandatory reporting from hospitals and medical centres.
“It’s what we call ‘known’ dog attacks where it’s in a family household or a neighbour, and they don’t feel the need to report or they’re worried about the consequences of doing so.”
Still, court prosecutions over attacks have ramped up, with the council boasting 611 convictions in five years.
In the 12 months to June 29, animal control impounded 10,141 dogs, up from 8,306 the year before. Only half were reclaimed; the rest, if not rehomed, were euthanised.
The council has boosted its animal management budget by $5.9 million, hired 54 more officers and launched a “Who Let the Dogs Out” campaign showing the sad reality inside shelters. It receives around 15,000 reports of roaming dogs a year.
“It’s a big problem and it needs to be attacked on multiple fronts,” Irvine says.
Lockwood believes he’s been unfairly targeted. He says neighbours formed a Facebook group before they’d met him, knocking on doors to oppose his moving in.
“It was trial by social media before anyone had even met me … they were saying the more people that complain the better, you know what I mean?”
He points to “pig-hunting dogs” roaming the area as being the real issue, claiming they attack and rile his huskies and terrorise the street.
He admits that 20-plus dogs was “too much” and says illness played a role. “I got really sick and ended up in hospital and that was the reason why I ended up with heaps of dogs … [But] I was back on the right path.”
“One day some chickens were on the sidewalk and unfortunately got smoked which is very regrettable, but the dogs have never done that since,” he says.
Animal control staff say he subsequently tried to stop them seizing dogs by blocking their vehicle in the road. Lockwood says he simply “took my dogs for a walk - and they charged me with obstructing”.
For Dr Nik Taylor, the deeper academic question is whether cities ought to plan for co-existence.
She argues for stricter pre-ownership knowledge rules, but also for infrastructure that recognises dogs’ place in urban life: “Things like scent-scapes for dogs to walk through … places in urban areas that are specifically designed for dog noses with different smells and textures to play with.
“You think about it from a dog's point of view; they've learned our language. We haven't learned theirs,” she says. “They've learned how to exist with us and we just put our rules on them and they go along with it.”
Taylor, who owns three dogs herself, says she “couldn’t cope” in a city where a dawn chorus didn’t include the occasional bark.
“You just don't get the same reciprocity from a cat. There's something wonderful about just hanging out with the dog … every dog owner will tell you it’s a different relationship.”
As for Lockwood, the pack is broken up. His huskies will need new homes, and the council’s broader war on roaming dogs rages on as the city’s four-legged population continues to test the length of the leash.
For Irvine, the number of incidents is an unacceptable failure on behalf of owners to take responsibility, either because they don’t care or don’t believe they will be held responsible.
“Let us be clear: they will. Owning a dog comes with a duty to ensure the safety of the community. If you can’t meet that duty, you shouldn’t own a dog.”
What do you think? Email sundayletters@stuff.co.nz. Please include your full name and address.