Did 70s/80s dogs walk themselves?

[RamblingRam]

I don't know if I just grew up in a rough area, I don't think I did, but when I was a kid it was common to see dogs wandering the streets either alone or in small groups, and very rarely on a lead. Does anyone else remember this it being like that? DH reckons I'm mixing up reality and old films but I'm sure it happened.

I grew up in the 70s/80s and never had this around our way so maybe it is area dependent? People used to walk dogs on leads (but never clear up their poo).

I remember, as kids, the local shopkeeper let us walk his dog all the time, we let it off lead and nearly lost it once 🤦‍♀️

It definitely wasn't area dependent. I was an army child and lived in multiple places - changed school nine times! Dogs were just let out to roam. Not all dogs I guess but enough that it was completely common place.

When we moved into our current house in 1992 we used to see loads of dogs wandering up and down our street. Never see any unaccompanied now.

Dog licences cost 7/6 (seven shillings and six pence), 75p today. They were abolished in 1987.

Yup... dogs were just 'out'. They'd roam in little packs if there were enough of them. How they developed road sense I don't know, but I guess traffic wasn't as bad in the 60's early 70's as it is now. I also remember white dog poo! yuk....

@Fleamaker123 yes I don't think it's all been progress on responsible dog ownership/breeding that's for sure. As quite young kids, it was normal for us to take the dog for a walk or play out wth a dog or two with us. Now the risk of dog theft is so great, many people wouldn't be happy about that.

On our road, in the 80's I do remember dogs milling around. I particularly remember a rangy old ginger lurched called Sandy who always wondered around! Life seemed so much safer and easier back then. Rose tinted glasses perhaps...

I was a child in the 60s, free-range dogs were the norm.
But the laws have tightened, and will continue to do so as a reaction to intolerance of dog poo, dog attacks, traffic accidents and higher expectations of animal welfare,
I don’t remember professional grooming being a thing for ordinary dogs either. That’s relatively recent.

Yes absolutely! Our dog always wandered around on his own (1970s). He went out in the morning and would come back when he was hungry or wanted a nap in front of the fire. Lots of roaming dogs in those days, it was considered quite normal.
Oh and nobody I knew ever paid for a puppy, you just got them for free off a friend or neighbor. Our border collie was from a local farm.

My dog was “allowed out” on his own in the 80s, he’d come back of his own accord and lived to about 14.

I got a dog for my 5th birthday in 1973 in NE England, she never once roamed the streets on her own, she was walked and trained to heel etc. That's the same for all my friends dogs too.

Still happens in a lot of poorer countries. Probably cos less cars

My uncle had lurchers and I always thought it weird he " walked " them he wasn't walking them he was a poacher

The inspiration for one of my dcs favourite rhyming books
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_Maclary_from_Donaldson%27s_Dairy

I lived in a roughish estate in the 80s. There were lots of dogs roaming free, half of them seemed semi-feral. I was snapped at, growled at and chased lots of times.
I still don't trust dogs.

Surely this was not OK in rural areas? Farmers do not want dogs worrying their livestock.

But I also remember people "walking dogs" in the 80s when I was growing up. So I don't think latchkey dogs were normal in all urban areas either. Thank God. I hate unattended dogs.

Yes and we’d often see dog poop gone all white because it was left lying around.

Yes I remember this in 80s 90s, dogs just wandering about

R dog always got let out when we where younger so early 90s

There was an old black labrador that used to go to various houses, get given a biscuit or something then wander off to the next house.

I thought people went out early morning and late evening to walk them.

People definitely didn't employ dog walkers or "doggy daycare". But then having a dog was just a pet back then, not "part of the family" and being anthropomorphised to the silly extent it is now.

I remember this. And white dog poo.

I suppose there was much less traffic back then (1970s)

Very common in the 70s. Then we moved to a nicer village and nobody did this. Poo picking was still a novel concept in the 80s though.

There are still 2 latchkey dogs in the village I live in now and it’s a regular topic of conversation on the village FB group. People aren’t happy, about one in particular. The other one is only slung out under cover of darkness so flies under the radar. Dh calls the owner Mr Dogshit from Dogshit house.....not to his face mind!

I grew up in NE England in the 80s/90s and this wasn't a thing where I lived. We had a dog - pedigree, bought from a breeder - and she was walked in the morning before school, in the afternoon after school, and then dad took her out before he went to bed. The back door was left ajar so she had free access to the garden the test of the time. A few times a week we would go on longer walks to the woods or the beach. Loads of kids free roamed and we would be out playing for hours but we never saw any dogs wandering free except for ones that had escaped from their homes.

It was definitely a thing even in nice areas.

I’d forgotten about white dog poo. What the hell was that all about?

I thought the white dog poo was something they put in the food? 🤔