We have two puppies and a dog. The council is very strict regarding the licensing of your dogs, and that you know the rules about where you are allowed to take your dogs walking.
Although we live on a 29 hectare park, and there are only 10 houses, we had to apply for a kennel license as our property is only 3/4 of an acre. We are the only ones with a fence, and although the other dogs continually come to our fence and run around, we have been given a bit of flack for our dog jumping our fence and going jolling. When I told the lady at the council that I didn't realise we had to get a kennel license (having more than 2 dogs in a residential area on a property smaller than 1 acre, and not used for working purposes ) she said it was up to me to read up on all the rules. She also gave me a load of poo bags . There are certain no go areas, and this includes within 10 metres of a playground or picnic table, and certain beaches in our area (Rabbit Island, Abel Tasman NP beaches , ,etc ) which are very well mapped out on their site.
As our dog seems to love to go jolling next door up the hill (and Thank goodness we are good friends with these neighbours ) and he does it with his eyes closed, we have now bought a dog fence shocker. It is a wire that you run around your property, the dog wears a collar, and if he goes too close to the fence he gets a shock. Apparently they only do it about twice and never again. The fast they run at the fence, the bigger the shock .... we know how smart dogs can be !!
We are doing this because if something does happen, we are responsible, and the next door neighbours are having lambs and he is an ex pig dog. Beautiful, gentle nature and so good with my young girls, but one never knows if there is a pig around and he goes bossies !!!!
So the bottom line is go and see your council, and get all the pamphlets and read up as they don't go in for "I didn't know , I am new here " .