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?

@Thelnebriati

They are also used by people who have disabilities that affect their upper body.

This.

My husband can’t hold a lead, so the choices are waist lead or no walks.

Our dog loves running, so now I use a waist lead every morning and we go for a run together. Its the only walk type he gets genuinely excited for.

I hate seeing dogs attached to cyclists. That is NOT a dog walk, it's very cruel and should be banned imo

@joystir59

I hate seeing dogs attached to cyclists. That is NOT a dog walk, it's very cruel and should be banned imo

It's not cruel. Many dogs like to run just like many humans like to run.

It's lucky for them that your opinion won't make any difference.

I take my dog with my when I cycle to friends' houses, for example. Or I cycle to the river and let him off lead.

Is that cruel joystir59? The alternatives are leaving him at home or going on a lead walk. I know what he prefers.

@AbsolutelyPatsy my dog gets two walks a day, first is a fast walk. She has got a bit fat, not much but enough to need to lose some for her well-being, so we have a training walk in the morning and a slow bimble at her pace in the evening. Depending on what walk you’d see us on you’d judge me.

@SimonJT

Our dog loves running, so now I use a waist lead every morning and we go for a run together. Its the only walk type he gets genuinely excited for

Mine used to be like this, but now she's a bit older, she hides when she sees me put my running kit on! She only runs for a tennis ball these days

I have a spaniel, he stops and sniffs every blade of grass. His nose is constantly on the ground.

A friend has a labradoodle who is not interested on sniffing at all.

Last time I was at the park, I saw a dog attached to a cyclist. They must have been doing laps because they came past me twice.

I’m not totally sure of the breed, but the dog looked similar to a German Shepherd.

I did raise my eyebrows at that one - I’m not sure how good that is for dogs, but it’s the sort of thing where I can easily imagine a nasty bike accident happening.
Especially as it’s a popular park, with lots of people, toddlers and ducks wandering around. And the cyclist wasn’t wearing a helmet either.

Waist leads are brilliant. Keeps you hand free and if you have a powerful dog or a puller, it keeps your centre of gravity much more stable and less likely to be pulled over or to just lose the lead altogether.

I used to walk our two spaniels on one when we had two and it was brilliant.

@joystir59 why do you think it is cruel to exercise a dog?

Nobody is going to tie an elderly pug to a bicycle, a young pointer would love it though.

As long as you know your dog and know when they should stop. A lot of working dogs need to be stopped or they'll hurt themselves by carrying on.
Just because they look like they can, doesn't mean they should.
A bike ride at speed shouldn't really be done unless you know your dog can comfortably run that distance without injury or dehydration.

@joystir59

I hate seeing dogs attached to cyclists. That is NOT a dog walk, it's very cruel and should be banned imo

Why? If it was the only walk they ever did then maybe, but still outside and exercise is better than none. Probably those that bother with cycling with dogs also take them for other walks. I'm more fussed for those dogs that never go out.

The important thing when running or cycling with a tethered dog is a harness which doesn’t constrict the rib cage in any way - so it should end wrapped around the dog’s ‘waist’ and not come into contact with the ribs at all. And obviously never run for any sort of distance on pavements/road.

My dad has to do this since recovering from cancer and dealing with long covid. Husky and a Collie as well (the horrors!). Street walking has become so much easier and less painful for him and improving both his life and the dogs. The dogs also get massive runs at the beach, in enclosed private land etc off lead (and yes they have excellent recall to do this before someone pipes up).

You’ve saw what, 5 minutes of this dogs life? Lots of on lead walking is practical to get from point A to point B and not for the dog sniffing. Stop judging everything on a brief snapshot of their lives.

@Postdatedpandemic - I’m wondering now if people judge me canicrossing with my two spaniels…I know from their reaction to me touching their canicross harnesses that this is the highlight of their week though! For us, we use the canicross belt for walks because having a job really calms my reactive dog down. He has plenty of chances to sniff, both on walks and at home/in the garden but if we have to walk at busier times, the waist belt really helps. I really don’t know how anyone can get so worked up over a snapshot of a dog and owner’s day.

I feel the same, Patsy. I hope the dog gets plenty of chance to enjoy natural behaviour at other times.

Only if the dog was laying on its side being dragged behind the human. Perhaps both of them were doing exercise and the second walk of the day is the sniff and pee walk.

OP are you the same poster who felt sad when they saw 2 dogs playing in a garden and felt bad for them bc they looked like they wanted to be out on a lovely walk?

Sometimes my dog has to be "walked smartly" when we're on the way somewhere (or else we'd never get there ) and I used a waist tether when my back fucked up.

I quite like your empathy towards dogs though

@joystir59

I hate seeing dogs attached to cyclists. That is NOT a dog walk, it's very cruel and should be banned imo

I hate it too. Poor dogs having to constantly run to keep up. Honestly, just walk your dog and let them enjoy it!

I know from their reaction to me touching their canicross harnesses that this is the highlight of their week though!
Exactly. Before my dad got ill he used to bikejoring with his husky and collie. They would get crazy excited when they got to the location and their harnesses on. It was the best time for them despite the lack of “stopping for sniffs” “opportunity to do their business” and all the other cliches (because they obviously get no other time to do this at all).

I’m not sure when dogs became so anthropomorphised people don’t see them as dogs anymore. The husky was literally bred to pull things but it’s cruel according to some posters

How do people thing service dogs cope without “sniffing everything” and stopping to pee at every lamp post?

@Batsy I dog sit for a husky as I'm the only one mad enough to do it. Have an app that tracks our walks so her owner can see and it's usually 10k a day. She has a quick sleep and then is "we going out again hooman?" while i am collapsed in a heap!
She doesn't really do slow sniff walks, just carts me along at speed

@joystir59 i‘ll try to tell my dog that she‘s unreasonable to love going out next to my bike. i‘ll doubt she‘ll agree with you, its her favourite thing in the world. She’s born and bred to run and happily trots along my bike until i‘m tired. a 30 minute slow sniffing walk is her idea of torture and if done exclusively would lead to and obese, bored and anxious dog.

Poor dogs having to constantly run to keep up. Honestly, just walk your dog and let them enjoy it!
I agree. Don’t people know dogs should never run it’s so dangerous for them And don’t even get me started on dogs chasing balls, so cruel.

@JaniieJones

If you have a dog attached to your bike, you have to have pretty good communication with it. You don't seem to realise that dogs and owners are responding to each other all the time. Dogs tell you when they're tired. They tell you when they want to run. They tell you when they're hungry. They tell you when they're happy or sad or excited or poorly. It's not that you suddenly decide to go for a bike ride so the dog 'has to come'. It's that you discovered ages ago that your dog loves to run, and you can't go that fast without a bike, so you find a way to facilitate the dog's preference. When the dog starts to tire, it slows down, and it's very hard to drag a dog on a bike!

I am actually astonished at the ignorance on this thread ('poor dogs being made to run' etc) Don't people realise that exercise requirements vary between different breeds?