Dog owners, please please please......

[ThickyStarlightTrollGirl]

keep them on a lead when walking on the pavement.

Ta muchly!

i have no choice. mine would be off!

but i had a friend whose dog was so completely obedient that she never used a lead. she would walk to the shop, pooch would sit outside, not move a muscle until she came out, then walk to heal all the way home again.

have you had a bad experience with a loose dog op?

Yep. Well, tbh it isn't a problem, it is just BIG and runs fast, scaring the heebi-jeebies out of my and my DS who is already scared beyond reason due to the irresponsible behaviour or other dog owners.

The thing is, there are lovely, lovely dogs out there, and lovely lovely dog owners, but dogs can be scary, behave unpredictably and it isn't fair that we have to put our blind faith in an owner we don't know that their dog will not behave in a way that WE find uncaccptable. Besides which, it is the law.

If they brought back dog licenses then perhaps there could be a case, if owners had to demostrate good control that is.

Couldn't do it with my current dogs either Vicar, but I could and did do so with my late long haired white GSD. His behaviour was impeccable, he never left my side, not for any temptation, and I had 101% faith in him. The only time I needed to lead him was crossing a road (for my own peace of mind) and outside a shop, or else he'd come in to find me!

Totally agree. I am am newly acquired puppy owner and even when he gets older, he'll be on a lead on the pavement. T'is not fair to people who are scared of dogs.

I always kept my puppy on the lead until we got to a large open space.
I also prevented him from jumping up at people who passed us.

I have also taught my dc never to stroke any dog without asking the owner first.

I get really scared when out with my dog and there was another dog off lead. It would often make me change my route.

Yes, and for the good of their own (small tiny toy) dogs, keep them in a short lead, it is difficult to see them when you are riding a bike with the sun in your eyes and your dog is freely running with a 5m long extensible lead around the bike/skating path. (get the lead, get the dog)

I keep my 6 month old on a lead at all times or he would be off!
But I have a 15ft tracker lead to let him loose in the woods when he wants to have a nosey.

I love my dog but I'm well aware that not everyone does.

Very few dogs are kept on leads where I live, and lots of dogs are loose (people don't tend to fence their gardens so much here). No pavements and fairly strict dog licensing laws (for example it's $15 for a neutered dog but $75 if they haven't been done and a maximum of two dogs within city limits). We only use a lead in the city or for the children.

My bug bear is when I see dogs on lead, say in a wood or park where you would expect dogs off lead, I put my dog on lead as a courtesy. Cos that dog could be on lead cos it's aggressive ( if it is then it should be muzzled !! ) not just cos it bogs off. I wish other people would do the same for me.

My dog is onlead in certain places cos it can't be trusted not to bog off in certain places and when off lead dogs bound up to us it's chaos. My dog gets super excited and is whirling round at a rate of knots and nearly knocks me over. Admittedly my training in this area has fallen short. Other owners can see my issue and just don't bother to call their dogs a
way.

People with two dogs or more or even a group of friends walking multiple mutts do not seem to realise that it's polite not to let all the dogs descend on one dog as there is a pack mentality there with a higher possibility for agression breaking out.

I am by, no means, a perfect dog owner tho I like to be as considerate to others as much as possible. Shame not more owners are more thoughtful or maybe it boils down to education. Who knows.