Curious to hear thoughts on this, in absence of any hard data.
I didn't have a dog until a few years ago so may not have paid that close attention to them until recently, but in my memory dog gates were really quite common in many places I used to walk (although by no means universal). However it feels like they have become less so in recent years.
What particularly got me thinking was a blocked-up dog gate on the path up to the Langdale Pikes from the New Dungeon Ghyll. This looked like it had been done recently, and extremely deliberately, making me wonder if there is perhaps a wider pattern of landowners getting rid of them, presumably with the intention of disuading less confident / less mobile dog owners from walking on certain paths (or some other reason)?
Example of what the stile looks like now: https://ibb.co/5khc4cY
And what it used to look like: https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5568562
In this case I'm not sure if the stile is owned by the national trust (owns land to the south of the wall and has a sign on the stile) or whoever owns the land to the North. Worth noting that although the area is access land this route is also a public footpath.
Of course landowners are under no obligation to make life easy for dog owners despite the theoretical right to bring them as a 'usual accompaniment', but personally I do appreciate it when dog gates are provided (I know some athletic dogs can bound over wooden step stiles, but mine has never managed it). Slippery-when-wet and wobbly stiles with awkward ground on each side can be awkward to navigate safely at the best of times, let alone when maneuvering a dog over as well (this is most fun when encountered as a surprise when it's getting dark, raining, and you're knackered from a long day :p ). Ironically I'm also much more likely to take the dog off lead when lifting it over a stile, to avoid it getting in the way or catching on things, whereas with dog gates it's often possible to pass it through.
So anyway, curious if other people think there is a wider pattern here, or just a selective memory! Also thoughts on changes like the above example, if anyone else has encountered things like this and knows what the reason might be?
Post edited at 19:08