Good evening,

As always, we offer great thanks to our many signers, sharers, donators and supporters.

Let's keep sharing and getting those all important signatures: https://www.change.org/EdinburghCemetriesForAll

Please feel free to email us at: cemeteries4all@yahoo.com

As we work full-time, study part-time and are a full-time dog mum it can be a little hard at times to find the time to do research, especially when there are so many possible angles that could be researched.

We are very grateful to one of our supporters for taking the time to research how common it is across Scotland for dogs to be allowed in cemeteries and sharing this information with us - you can see their information below.

You will see the majority of Scottish cemeteries allow dogs to enter - we currently allow this in Edinburgh and we do not think it is unreasonable to ask for this to continue considering it is a minority causing issues and it could be described as a common thing to allow given two thirds of Scottish cemeteries allow this. 

Rules may vary slightly in how they are written in different areas, for instance, Aberdeen state "7.3 Dogs shall only be admitted if they are kept under proper, close control or on a short lead and they are not disturbing any visitors or staff." whilst in Glasgow the rules are "6.5 Only dogs controlled by a lead of less than two meters long are permitted in the Cemetery. 6.6 Under the provisions of the dog fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 a person that is in charge of a dog must ensure that excrement is picked up and either removed from the Cemetery or deposited in a bin within the Cemetery".

Our own rules in Edinburgh currently state, in relation to dogs, prohibited behaviours are: "3.1 Failing to keep your dog on a lead whilst in the cemetery. 3.2 Commercial dog walking. 3.3 Allowing a dog to foul in a 
cemetery contrary to the provisions of the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003."

As stated before, we believe these rules are adequate and changing them to what the other petition asks for may disadvantage many people who use Edinburgh Council Cemetries respectfully, responsibly and in-keeping with current rules - including mourners with their dogs, those using the space due to physical or mental health reasons and those who enjoy and pay their respects to historical graves (possibly the only attention these graves get). 

We do not feel their proposed rule/law change will stop the minority of people who go against rules as we don't think that they would follow any new rules/laws better - so in effect any rule/law change will be a pointless exercise which only disadvantages "good" cemetery visitors and tax payers who pay for this unique outdoor space for solace, contemplation and reflection.

As you can see from the below email from one of our supporters it is not unusual for dogs to be allowed in cemeteries, in fact, one might say it is fairly common given the majority of Scottish cemeteries allow it - thank you so much for this information x

"Hello,

I really appreciate all your efforts to help keep graveyards accessible for all members of the community.

One of the arguments I’ve seen put forward is that people assume that Edinburgh allowing dogs in Graveyards is somehow odd/different from other cities/places/counties.

I didn’t think this was the case.

So, having a bit of time spare I did a survey of the rules….

There are 32 local authorities in Scotland.

21 of them definitely allow dogs in cemeteries/burial grounds. That’s 66% of them.

7 definitely don’t.  That’s 22% of them.

4 – I couldn’t work out (13% of them)

The results, with references to their policy / rule statements are here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ksC_U4WYPXMzXdFMc489h96UXy3VRcL9GPrwg0dBssk/edit?usp=sharing"