it made me sad to see a dog's lead attached to the waist of someone walking smartly

[AbsolutelyPatsy]

thereby lack of stopping, sniffing, doing business.
just walking for exercise.

am i wrong?

A Vizla?

I prefer waist belt leads to unlocked flexi leads that people seem to walk their dogs on the pavement which are just bloody dangerous.

Meh.

If I'm running with my dog, that's because I'm going for a run and I'd rather take her than leave her bored at home.

It means she gets extra time outside.

Would you like to come and judge my neighbour who 'walks' his dog at the side of his mobility scooter instead? That's one very fit spaniel (I believe the scooter does a tidy 8 mph).

ok, it seems i am wrong and odd

you sussed me

Vizsla

Maybe a Lurcher?

beautiful, but the dog i dont think had droopy ears. but never mind, i was wrong in my post

Is the problem the length of lead? I can’t see why it matters where it is attached to.

lurcher or pointer perhaps.

Is a waist lead more unpleasant for the dog than a normal hand held lead? I have never used one so I don't have a view.
Dogs that consistently pull on the lead can cause injuries. So perhaps a waist lead was chosen for that reason.

no i know my lurchers and pointers, love them both,

@AbsolutelyPatsy you are going to be devastated when you find out about canicross k9trailtime.wordpress.com/2014/02/20/interview-with-a-canicross-champion-sarah-pepper

You really can’t do anything in this world without someone like OP jumping on it, clutching their pearls and wagging their finger. Context is everything OP. Everything.

I run with our dog and when I do she’s on a waist lead. She LOVES running with me. It’s her favourite kind of walk. We also go for long days out together in a variety of different places. Unfortunately she’s no good off lead but she has a good walk on an extendable or long lead other times. Sometimes she’s on a short lead on built up areas. Sometimes we sit in the park and don’t walk at all! We go for a lot of walks.

Some people use a waist lead if their dog is reactive and they are trying to do training with it, its much easier if you have both hands free, not only for treats but for stroking and calming the dog down.

@AbsolutelyPatsy

what is a dog that looks like a thin lab?

Maybe a pointer?

Isn't it grand when people give goady opinions on subject matter they clearly have bugger all knowledge of?

FFS.

I don’t work with dogs currently sadly but I do work with children.

Sometimes, we do walks where I’ll indulge every ‘what is that?’ Or ‘yes let’s stand here for ten minutes while you look at the bin lorry coming for the rubbish’ and ‘shall we count all the postboxes?’

Sometimes, I say take my hand, we need to get somewhere quickly, so keep up and don’t get distracted and we’ll have a nice slow walk later.

Probably quite similar to a lot of dog walks.

Working labs are thin (although not usually golden). We had one of those once. He didn’t need much walking. He was a nutter and would tire himself out.

So true Smidgeonofapigeon I usually take mine through fields and woodland but every couple of weeks I throw in a pavement walk. An hour of the dog sniffing ever gatepost, lamppost and wheely bin, trying to wander through every open gate, putting paws up on every low wall to look over it and minute long stand-offs because she wants to go down someone’s drive to investigate a good scent and I won’t let her.

Something like this?

DH did canicross with our (dearly departed) cocker spaniel. She was awesome. He is going to train DPup to do the same when he's big enough. It's great for working dogs to have an actual job to do. They love it.

Usually a dog has a variety of walks, there is a quick once round the block, lazy sunny walk in a field, hiking through a forest and keep a good pace... I don't think you can judge on the basis of seeing someone walk their dog at a moment in time.

@AbsolutelyPatsy

no i know my lurchers and pointers, love them both,

Do you have a dog yourself op? What is the difference between holding a dog by a lead in you hand and having one attached to your waist?

You are definitely coming across as a bit odd! Most people would moan if the dog WASN'T on a lead!

I run canicross with both my SBTs. During that run they rarely stop and wee or poo let alone sniff. That is my exercise time, but keeps them fit at the same time. However they then get a separate walk (mooch) at their own pace the other end of the day. Plus they have a big back garden to mooch around in and we take them to a field for offlead running around as well.

Maybe you should stop judging people on a snapshot of their life.

People can use belts for all sorts of reasons. My friend has difficulty walking and uses a belt in order that she can use her walking aid. Dogs get off lead walks where it is safe to do so. My dog is currently recovering from surgery and can only take tethered walks.

Sometimes if I go out, I'll walk through town, and I don't stop at the chippy even though it smells nice, I don't go into the Co-op even though I want an ice cream, I don't go into the cafe even though I could really fancy a coffee, and I don't go into the restaurant on my way home, even though I'm hungry and it's dinner time. I wait until I'm home to go to the toilet, even though I've needed a pee for quite a while, because I can't go into the pub and use their loo.

The reason I can't do these things is because I've got my dog with me. It works both ways, and as long as everybody gets their needs met some of the time, nobody needs to get all of their needs met all of the time.