BY HANNAH GRAHAM

Last week, hundreds of protestors stormed Weymouth beach to stand up against the extension of the length of time dogs are restricted there.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s decision to lengthen the time dogs are banned on the beach has left dog owners all over the area disgruntled and upset.

Personally, as a dog owner myself, I love taking my dog out for a morning walk at the beach on a cool spring or autumn morning.

My dog doesn’t cause any trouble - he just enjoys the beautiful landscape and sea.

The best thing about living in Dorset is having the beach so close by - and extended bans are taking that beautiful part of this county away from many dog owners.

The times of the month that are proposed to be extended into a ban, are times when there are very few people on the beach anyway, so there would not be much of a difference made, and therefore there is not much point in the bans.

Dog owners have described the new bans as dog owners’ rights being ‘taken away’.

They feel that a big part of Weymouth and the beach there is to walk their dogs and have fun, and that the bans create a negative impact on the town