Do you think it is cruel not to let the dog of the lead?

[luckylady]

I have an American Akita and as a rule all breeders etc say not to let them of the lead when out. I don't but my Aunty thinks I am being cruel to the dog by not letting her of the lead.

I personally think that as long as she gets plenty of excersise then what is the problem. Due tot he heat out here she is only walked once a day at night for 40mins, just before bed. Once the sun has gone down and it cools we play with her in the garden playfighting and throwing her toys around.

Am I being cruel?

Arf! Arf!

All of our family dogs have been trained to walk to heel without a lead, although they all behaved best with my mum - she's very good with animals, and did all the training (apart from our collie who went to obedience school). Just watching how differently they behave on or off the lead is enough to see how much they enjoy exploring and moving at their own pace. On the lead or walking to lead they are always "on duty" whereas on their own they are just doing their own thing. My sister's dog is not alowed off a leash yet as he is too unpredicable, and I do think that he loses out - but as he's the one who bit my ds there is a long way to go yet. I really don't like the fact that there is that worry if he's around the kids, and I just wouldn't go there myself. But then we only have cats as we are not around during the day (IMO that would be a cruel thing to do)

No Serah, Asian restaurants. Have you heard of shark fin soup? they have to catch them some way!

nooka - i was brought up with a lAbrador whom we had for 16 years. He was very rarley on the lead. I used to but him on when i took hm out as i was only a child andhe responded better to me on the lead than off. But all my aunties and uncles and my grandad took him out without one and he was fine.

Not having a lead on i think does really depend on the dog etc and the amount of control you can have.
I know with my dog that I have full control of her whilst she is on the lead.
whilst walking her one night last week i had to lift her front paws and head into my arms, as another dog made a run for her as he was of the lead, I had to keep control of Storm whilst the dog was sniffing her as he would not respond to his owners until the dragged him of and attached his lead, at which point I put Storm back down and we carried on our walk. I could have left Storm but was not sure how she would have responded, she is fine when other dogs etc are on the lead as she seems to understand the pecking order and humans are the alpha, but when one isnt on the lead to her this breaks the pecking order chain, so she could try for dominance, but i am not prepared to take that risk.. But to me that was a potentially dangerous situation that I should not have been in as it was due to another dog being of the lead and the owners having no control over the animal.

All Akita breeders will and do advise that if you want a dog to be walked of the lead then you should not own an Akita. I knew this and was/am happy with walking her on the lead ( so that I know I am in full control). But I just wandered if people did think it cruel as my auntie does.

I know what you mean about other owners, you have to be very confident of your dog to let him off in a public place, as you never know what situation may arise. I don't think anyone thinks you are being cruel.

LL - I agree with u to an extent there if another dog's on his lead my two go on theirs something aboutt he dog on his lead automatically finds it a threat if he's on and the other isn't. I prefer my two on leads with other dogs as u say more control over them, we were in the park on monday and my two were on their leads but another dog owner had allowed his dog off the other dog came upto mine and wanted a sniff but as we walk the two together the GSD wanted to protect the other one so had a bit of a growl, the other owners dog just walked off and called the dogs name - after the bloke stopped and 5 mins the dog ran off - the bloke had to walk past us thou so god only knows why he didn't put his dog on the lead when he see me and DH purposefully get out two back onto theirs.

rarely walk our labrador on the lead (only on main roads) -and that is to stop him getting excited if he see's a cat! As long as he gets lots of excercise he stays nice and calm and not "hyper". But i believe that leads are necessary for certain breeds of dog, should always do careful research.

My dog is more likely to run away from another dog - he always gives dogs that he hasn't seen before what i call a "wide berth" He never went to obedience school as we tried it once and all the training was done to treats, which i do not believe in - dogs should want to obey not do it so they get a treat. He does not only obey to vocal commands but also to hand signals. We spent alot of time with him as a puppy "training" him rather than "playing" with him and the rewards have paid off.

Akitas and some other spitz breeds are notorious for running off. I have SHiba Inus and we were told the same thing by breeders. As it happens we are quite lucky in that we can let them off the lead if we choose the location carefully. But I have nearly lost them a couple of times (on one occassion my male dog ran up a scottish mountain after rabbits and the little bugger wasn't gonna come back so I had to trudge up the mountain after him). Defintely won't let them off in the hills again.

So..I don't think its cruel to keep on a lead.