Good morning everyone – we hope you are having a great weekend!

Welcome to the first of what will be our weekly updates, informing you of what steps we have taken in our campaign, and any notable developments.

We will continue to issue shorter midweek updates when required, to include amongst other things: news of similar issues being raised in Scotland, the UK and further afield, supporters messages, requests for help when required, opinion articles…and of course, any rebuttals of misinformation & disinformation aimed at our campaign, as well as reports of abuse.

This petition was launched on 30th January 2024. Which means it has been running for 19 days at the time of writing, not even one month yet.

At the time of writing:

• we have 819 signatories
• the petition has been viewed 7,302 times
• the petition has been shared 526 times
• 16 very kind promoters have contributed £67 to promoting the petition link to a wider audience

We thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts.

You can donate as little as £1 on Change to help with promotion.

Please continue to share the petition with the following link: https://www.change.org/nodogsscottishcemeteries

So, what have we been doing for the past 19 days?

1: First and foremost, this is an Edinburgh Council matter. In that respect, we have personally written to the following Councillors, MP’s, and MSP’s:

From Paul’s Morningside Ward:

• Cllr Neil Ross
• Cllr Marie Clair Munro
• Cllr Ben Parker
• Cllr Mandy Watt

From Andy’s Colinton Fairmilehead Ward:

• Cllr Scott Arthur
• Cllr Marco Biagi
• Cllr Jason Rust

In their capacity as Edinburgh MP’s, to make them aware we are raising the issue:

• Deidre Brock MP (Edinburgh North & Leith)
• Tommy Shepperd MP (Edinburgh East)
• Joanna Cherry MP (Edinburgh South West)
• Ian Murray MP (Edinburgh South) (Ian has been very helpful to Paul in the past)
• Christine Jardine MP (Edinburgh West)

And lastly, even though it is an Edinburgh Council matter initially, with “one eye on the future”, the following Edinburgh Lothian MSP’s:

• Jeremy Balfour MSP (Lothian Region)
• Gordon MacDonald MSP (Edinburgh Pentlands)
• Sue Webber MSP (Lothian)
• Lorna Slater MSP (Lothian)
• Sarah Boyack MSP (Lothian)
• Miles Briggs MSP (Lothian)
• Foysol Choudhury MSP (Lothian)
• Alex Cole Hamilton MSP (Edinburgh Western)
• Daniel Johnstone MSP (Edinburgh Southern)
• Alison Johnston MSP (Lothian)
• Ben Macpherson MSP (Edinburgh North & Leith)
• Ash Regan MSP (Edinburgh Eastern)
• Angus Robertson MSP (Edinburgh Central)

2: And of course, we have also personally written to The First Minister, Humza Yousef, to get the issue on his radar.

Due to strict parliamentary protocol, many of the above MPs and MSP’s cannot take up our case, as neither Paul nor I live in their constituencies (however, it does no harm to make them aware of our campaign) – however you may live in their constituency...they may be your MP or MSP!

3: We will be issuing a “Call to Arms” petition update, looking for help from all you lovely 819 people, within the next day or two. Part of that will be to encourage you to email your local Councillor, MP, and MSP - we will have template text for you to use, and links to find the email addresses of your local Councillor, MP, and MSP.

4: We have applied to start an official Scottish Government petition. That application went in one week ago, and we waiting to hear back as to whether that has been successful.

5: We have a new X (Twitter) account. It can be found here: https://twitter.com/nodogexcem
and our handle is @nodogexcem

We welcome open and courteous debate from both sides. Trolls will be blocked.

6: We have a dedicated email address, which is noexercisingdogsincemeteries@gmail.com

This will also feature in our “Call to Arms” update, to be issued in the next day or two.

7: We (currently) have eleven “Freedom of Information” requests in, not just with Edinburgh Council, but Councils across Scotland. The aim of this will become clear in future updates.

8: And finally, with thanks to Jeremy Balfour MSP for facilitating, we have a meeting scheduled with Edinburgh Council in mid-March. Mr Balfour will also be attending this meeting. More news on that nearer the time.

So, I hope you can see that we have not been sitting on our laurels, just watching all you lovely folk happily signing our petition and some even contributing financially to promoting it – we have been working very hard in the background and will continue to work hard…but we can’t do this alone.

We need your help:

• Please continue to share the petition via social media, WhatsApp, word of mouth etc.
• If you know people who feel strongly on this issue, please encourage them to sign the petition.
• If you can afford it, please spend a £ or ££ promoting the petition on Change.
• Email your local Councillor, MP, and MSP (we will help you with this)
• Follow us on Twitter

This is not going to happen overnight; it will take time and people power - a petition on its own is not enough.

In the end, we may fail to change things and have to accept that…but nobody will be able to say we did not try.

Thanks for your support, and have a lovely weekend,

Paul & Andy