Just Walk Me on the Gold Coast

Alf Mikelat spent a lot of his working life getting his hands dirty. Before joining the Gold Coast City Council and working his way Team Leader position of Animal Management, he’d made his crust as a mechanic in South Western Victoria.

However, sitting at his desk, sending out reams of fact sheets with contact details of animal behaviourists to people having difficulties with their dogs just didn’t cut it for Alf.

“Experience has taught me that the average person can feel pretty confused with the kind of language we tend use in local government. It can all seem too confusing and overwhelming to people who just want a simple answer on how they can spend more time enjoying their dog in the community.”

So Alf and his team developed the “Just Walk Me” program. Here people that experience difficulty with their dogs can meet up every Sunday with members of the Animal Management group to walk their dogs and become socially responsible pet owners.

“It’s a great opportunity to show people what normal dog behaviour is. Owners can feel nervy about their dogs, but once they understand realise that their dogs are behaving like everyday dogs do, they relax and realise that they have nothing to worry about.”

By sending out flyers to promote the program to people in areas where high regulatory taking place, Alf can bring people having difficulty with their dogs together in open off leash areas.
“It’s a great way to get the dogs that are having problems right out in the open. It means we can deal with issues right in front of us.”

Since it began in October 2007, popularity for the Just Walk Me program has increased across the board. Initially the public open space was deserted but now Alf and his team find that more than 70 people are turning up to exercise their dog, seek guidance and make friends with neighbours.

“The first few times we came, we parked the dog truck in the middle of the park and hopped out in our AMO uniforms. And people took off, all running off in the opposite direction! We learnt that lesson pretty quickly,” he laughs. “We changed our shirts to a friendly green, stuck up some colourful signage and painted up the truck and it wasn’t long before word of mouth got around.”

Alf continues to do the Sunday rounds with two animal management officers, believing that face to face community contact is critical for the program to work.

“We’re here to provide information and answers,” said Alf. “If we can’t answer the questions, we take down contacts and send out whatever information they required.”

Communication is key to running one of these programs successfully, so Alf handpicked animal management officers he knew that community members would feel comfortable to approach.

So far, the program has been a success, with a plateuing of animal complaints just one of the benefits.

Someone like Alf doesn’t rest on his laurels however; Alf has in his sights a pet awareness strategy that takes a cradle to grave approach. With pre-natal programs being rolled out in hospitals, kindergarten programs with the Wiggles and Doris the Dinosaur, and a similar strategy to the Just Walk Me program is being developed to target senior residents with pets who can’t get out as often as they’d like.

“If we can fix just one complaint, one concern, then I reckon we’ve done our job,” says Alf. “Primarily I want to make sure that these Sunday’s are for people with dog problems. Sure it should be fun too, but it’s more important I think, that the dogs with difficulties are getting out where we can tackle those problems head on.”

“I’m really stoked at how well the programs gone. It’s not only been dead easy to run, but dead cheap too!”

How to run a “dead easy, dead cheap” Just Walk Me Program

· Turn one of your trucks into a Just Walk Me truck. Alf got the engineering team to convert his station wagon into a promotional vehicle that also converts into an information table.

· Turn the public image of AMOs on its head. Instead of your usual AMO officer uniform, pick up some shirts in “friendly colours”, green or yellow, and embroider them with the “Just Walk Me” program logo.

· Set up lots of signage in the area advertising the event. Tall “feather” signage like the colourful ones you might see at the beach or at outside events are just the ticket to get people’s attention.

· Link up to an existing health program that’s running in your council. Alf hooked the “Just Walk Me” program in with the Gold Coast City Council’s “Active and Healthy” program. In doing so, he was able to get assistance with signage and promotion.

· Target areas that are displaying the most regulatory action and high registration numbers

· Send out flyers for the programs when sending out regulatory notices or fines

· Handpick officers who have good people skills are and are capable of talking with people from all walks of life

· Evaluate the program both the teams’ progress and dog owner’s general ongoing exercise and training activities.

· Provide a simple healthy morning tea with fruit and juice.

Alf Mikelat has been with the Gold Coast City Council for 6 years. He also works as a chief training officer at Burleigh Heads Surf Life Saving Club.

For further information on local government animal management solutions go to www.ccac.net.au