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 wonder if dogs in the 70s and 80s were more streetwise/more intelligent? If I let my dog out she’d be run over within half an hour...

Survival of the fittest. All the thick ones would be weeded out.

I remember in the 70’s as a kid no one ‘walked their dogs’ except a few men at night like my dad would take the family dog to the pub or walk it ‘around the block’. Most would put the dog out for the day when left for work and even in the 70’s where I grew up both parents worked. In out street there was a dog who lived down an alley way next to my house, had pups too who all got rehomed by locals! She had a den someone built and people brought her food! Even local butcher would bring her food when she turned up at his shop! One other local dog used to walk another dog on a lead, using crossings and visited the newsagents to get a paper and bring it home bizarrely! Dogs were everywhere, so was dog poop! I also remember that regularly dogs would turn up at the school wandering the playgrounds to play with the kids until shooed out!

You don't see white dog poo anymore either, thank goodness.

I remember. There were a couple of vicious ones on my walk home from school. I was terrified. I either had to walk past the dog or walk on the other side of a busy road and run across with no crossing. :(

The other one came aggressively at my neighbour's cat (I loved that cat) and I tried to shoosh it away (I was only small) but the cat was all brave and yowling at it until it realised the dog meant business - when it jumped in my arms. I was frozen with fear. I can't actually remember what happened, but I remember crying afterwards (the cat pretended that nothing had happened).

Yes! Early-mid 80s. Our dog used to have a hole in the privets she used to come in and out by. Her best friend - Fluff - lived a few doors away. He would wait for her by the gate and they'd trot off together, getting up to God knows what! There was a dog around the corner - Skip - who roamed freely too. I think it was a thing back then. Ours was just a normal, run-off-the-mill residential area. The dogs used to love being with the kids playing out...can't ever remember any bites etc. It still seems unthinkable to me mow though!

I remember one neighbours' dog taking himself for a walk at a fixed time twice a day when I was a child. He was elderly and possibly the calmest animal on the entire planet. He walked slowly but would stop for a about 10 seconds for a pat from a child. He only walked round the block so never needed to cross the road. Apparently, he took the route and stuck to the times he had been walked as a puppy. The rest of the time he sat in the sun in his front garden, graciously accepting hugs from the children in the road and looking anxious if any other them crossed it.

This definitely wasn't a thing where I grew up. I'm amazed how many people this was normal for!

I have no recollection of this. We had a dog when I was a teenager (70s) and I loved walking him. There was a community of dog walkers in our local park. We'd have been very concerned if we'd seen an unaccompanied dog.

@Fleamaker123

I remember if someone's dog had puppies they were just given away. They were just known as mongrels. Dog ownership is so commercialised and expensive now.

Yep, they're still mongrols now except someone made them worth a serious chunk of change.

I remember the days of just letting the dogs out to roam when I was a kid.

Yes, pretty normal back then for dogs to wander around themselves. There wasn't the same awareness re dog fouling etc - people actually had the ability to look where they were walking! Dog crap on pavements was the norm. But then again, councils actually went around sweeping pavements regularly in those days too, so it wouldn't be there for weeks!

It really wasn't common in the 80's. I've no memory of anything then, but I do have memories of the early 70's. Not huge numbers of them but definitely some.

I can't for the life of me see this as a nostalgic thread where dogs are just left to wander.

I don't think anyone else does either.
Although I do feel quite nostalgic for white dog poo. Now most dogs are fed on grain based kibble instead of bones and scraps and do large smelly poos. Imagine the mess if they all wandered about on their own.

Some of the dogs that were let out were bitey or nasty. I remember being small and scary growly dogs coming down the road when we were playing out. No-one seemed to care until they but someone and then they would be out down.

The dog poo everywhere was grim.

People would have laughed at the idea of paying a dog walker, seat beds for dogs, cool mats for hot dogs to lie on and all the expensive dog foods available. I don't think let insurance even was a thing or if was, hardly anyone had it. Would be totally common to go to work all day and either leave dog shut in or just let it out to roam. I'd imagine animal cruelty was more widespread too - in fact lots of usual behaviour from adults (leaving dogs in all day or hot cars) would be considered abusive now.

But then I find it shocking that people will spend £X on their pets when children in this country are still in significant poverty.

Yeah, all the dogs used to wander on our estate. We had a fat lab that used to get several dinners.

Unfortunately a couple of the dogs were terrifying psychos that made playing out a bit of a gamble. Bit at least I learned to ride my bike and roller skate really, really fast.

Completely normal in Warwickshire village where I grew up. Our dog just let out to stay at home or go for a walk as she wanted. Not neutered. She had several litters of puppies (all mongrels). My auntie had one of her pups and he was always out and about. Sometimes when I was out playing he’d come past in a little pack of dogs and he’d peel off to greet me and then run off with them again. Everyone very relaxed about dogs - no dog walkers, special food, etc.

Mine did, we'd open the back door, he'd walk round the block then let himself back in. He was a brilliant dog.

We did train him to poo down the drain so were a bit ahead of our time 😂😂😂

Look at the increase of car ownership.

When I was young (60's) a lot of households didn't even OWN a car. Now it's quite normal for every single person in a household to have a car, so houses may have two, three, four cars. That's a LOT more traffic. Take into account the decrease in public transport and increased speed - that's just one reason why a dog off-lead these days has the life expectancy of a chocolate teapot.

It was never 'against the law' to walk a dog off lead though.

I’m the mid 80s my nana was deemed strange for firstly BUYING a dog and having an actual vet for him.

She took him walks on his lead and he was trained to poop in the gutter (clearly not modern enough to actually pick it up!)

Yes. My school was in a rough area and there were always dogs around. My school friends just let their dogs out. It was nuts thinking back.

Yes people opened the door and put the dog out. There was dog shit everywhere - much more than nowadays when most people pick up. I remember my mum being paranoid we would walk it in the house.

Despite people moaning now it is so much better.

When we first got our golden lab my elder ds walked him every morning and evening, when she moved out no one took over the walking so he was old and used to walk himself, over the road and through the hole in the fence to the park. Sometimes people would help him back through the fence as on the way back it was an awkward angle to get through.... or he would just bark and we’d go over and give him a push through....

Can’t imagine doing that now and our dog is a lot calmer...

It's not nostalgia - it was disgusting. I remember one particular dog that used to bite - it was left to wander - pretty disgusting.

Back in the day people didn't believe children when they said neighbour had done x y or z too .... it's a different world and so much better now

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.

I think it depends where you live.

I grew up in London in the 70s and 80s and dogs did not just wonder around.

However, I have come across 'self walking' dogs in more rural areas with less traffic.

One got in our car after my brother opened the door then left it open while he ran back indoors to get his bag. It was enormous and not one we’d seen about so we didn’t know it.

I remember my mum shouting WHOSE FUCKING DOG IS THIS and no one came out so who knows who he was and where he came from.

We walked to school that day

I don't remember this at all from when I was growing up in Cornwall in the 80s and 90s. One set of grandparents had KCC spaniels that were part of the family and walked 2-3 times a day. The other grandparents had several gun dogs that were walked twice a day and lived in large kennel cages the rest of the time.