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.

It was more common. But I remember it was also fairly common for dogs to get run over.

I wonder what the incidence of 'dog phobia' was back then versus now?

Were more people getting bitten or attacked and therefore more people were afraid, or was the total immersion of being surrounded by dogs working to make fewer people scared?

I remember roaming dogs in the 1980s. It wasn't every dog though - about half of dog owners that I knew had a fenced garden and the dog was only allowed beyond the garden gate when being walked by its owner.

I also remember neutering being less common, and children at school asking around for homes for their dog's puppies. And puppies (and kittens) being drowned if no home could be found

My mum knew my dad’s dog before she knew him, the dog would wait to meet him from the train station and my mum saw the dog everyday he eventually took to walking my mum home and then returning for my dad. It’s not how they met but it would’ve been if had been a Richard Curtis film...

Our dog (80s) used to escape fairly regularly if the front door was left unattended and then turn up on the doorstep about half an hour later. It tended to bite if annoyed or picked up, a neighbour must’ve found him wandering picked it up and brought it back to us and none of us wanted to take him directly from the neighbour as he stood there holding the dog out to us

I had a Border Collie for my birthday present when I was 11 in the 70's. My dad was a firemen and we lived in fire brigade houses next to the fire station.
My dog often used to jump the chain link fence at the back of our garden and take himself for a walk across the fields behind where we lived. He was born to working collies on a farm and used to instinctively round up any cattle he'd come across. I was petrified he'd get shot by a farmer.

If he was missing when I got back from school, I had to go to the fire station to check whether they were out on a shout - if they were, the chances were that he was locked in the hose-reel room!!! In those days the siren and bells sounded and all the firemen used to run to the fire station - and my dog loved to join in!!! The firemen used to shut him in there for safety.

Happy days....

There was a lab who used to be turned out into our small local park every day. He was really sweet natured and desperate for company and would follow people about hoping for strokes. It wasn't common practice where we lived - I can't remember another one - and I thought his owners were absolute shits for leaving this lovely lonely dog to manage on his own in the park all day.

This was late 80s.

Allergies, once upon a time you put dog food in the bowl made more interesting by whatever leftovers you had from last nights dinner. No allergies, now dogs get tested at great expense and then you are given an eye wateringly expensive diet plan for them.

Pet insurance once upon a time it did not cost a great deal, now with pet insurance one visit and treatment is the price of a years insurance on your car.

We walked our dog, but it was quite usual to see some local dogs wandering around.

My best friend's family used to just let their dog out, this was in the 80s. People would just argue that dogs were animals and it was just natural to let them roam and there's nothing you can do about it.

I always think of this when people say it's their right to have a cat that roams and shits in my garden.

70's/80's child too! Lived in council estate, working class - yes this was very common!

Yes early 90s our dog and lots of others just walked themselves. Not now though

white dog shit

I'd forgotten about this! Nowadays, dog shit is typically left lying around inside tied up plastic bags. Progress!

1980s child here, I can definitely remember several neighbourhood dogs that everyone knew by name as they just used to wander about the estate all day

My lone walk to school, in London, in the sixties was pretty scary, there were usually several dogs on the loose and there were certain alleyways I dreaded. My mum was always cleaning dog mess off the carpets, I remember her sniffing and making us lift our feet up to show her the soles of our shoes.

If you had a hole in your shoe it was particularly unpleasant and squelchy.

Do you remember the white chalky dog poo

I wish someone would mention white dog poo.

Yes! Happened 70s/80s for me too, posh suburb of Glasgow, I regularly used to come across one or other of our dogs down at the local shops, don't think my parents ever took them for a walk. Both lived to a good old age and never got injured. I actually think it was mainly us who did this though now I think of it.

Definitely, even well into the 90s where I lived. All just wandering round impregnating each other, because nobody had their dogs neutered either!

@RamblingRam, thank you for this thread, it’s bringing back childhood memories.

My big sister bought a dog from the pet shop (couldn’t do that now). We lived rurally with a big field at the bottom of the garden. We had fences but not like today so she was always getting out. Farm dog got her pregnant eventually so we ended up with puppies. We kept one and my dad gave the rest away to friends.

Our neighbours dog always walked around, especially when the ice cream van arrived, she was always the first in the queue for her cone.

This was 70’s and others said, hardly any traffic in our road and people seemed more relaxed about things - that includes kids; we’d go out in the morning and stay playing out with mates all days, just to return for tea time.

Yes happened where i grew up too. Funnily i remember seeing packs of dogs chasing another dog. My mum mentioned recently about seeing dogs chasing bitches in heat. It sort of put a different take on my memory of dogs just playing

In the 70s-80s I lived in a suburb in Manchester that had a small farm and their two giant poodles used to roam the streets on their own. One was black called Toby and one was white, can't remember that one's name. Everyone knew them and they were so friendly.

Dog poo is white when they have been fed bones - most dogs were fed table scraps and bones in the 70’s, with a weekly treat of pedigree Chum, or Chappie, and Winalot biscuits.

Yes. Dogs were allowed out to roam and wait for the kids to come home from school so they could play.

I occasionally walked neighbours' dogs. One was a lazy not that slim poodle who bared his teeth once when we were going back home (he felt he had walked too much). I could not get near her to fit the lead on and so waited until we dropped another dog off then the man of the house put it on the dog with no problems!

Yes I remember in the 80s and early 90s we used to let our family dog out, they always came back!