do you let your dcs out alone with your dogs?

[booyhoo]

walked over to local shop today with ds1 and ds in buggy. as i was heading towards the entrance of the shop i was approached by about 12 boys roughly between the ages of 7/8 and 15/16. 3 of the boys had dogs straining at leads 1 rottie and two SBTs. teh boys that were holding the leads looked no older than about 11/12. these dogs were really straining at the leads and the boys were being jolted along by the dogs rather than the dogs walking beside them. i had to move off the path and pull ds behind me becaus eteh boys werent for moving and i didn't want to risk walking near the dogs with ds in tow. i have to say, i was concerned about those dogs. the size of those boys, they would have very little control over the dogs if they had made run at someone.

would you let your dcs out alone with your dog?

Nope never in a million years, especially now that we have the Dangerous Dogs Act which puts our dogs at such a tremendous risk.

Maybe if we (DDs aged 113 and 15) owned small dogs, yes, but as we own a Lab X, a bouncy GSD who pulls on the lead and our new foster dog who is another GSD, NEVER would I do this.

Oh shit, DD2 may act like she's 113 but she's only 13! Whoops!

thanks val- tbh i would have doubts about handling such a strong dog myself when out and about. i dont understand how their parents think this is a good idea. my neighbour has two lovely retrievers but she still only takes them one at a time incase anything ever happened and she couldn't control both of them.

My children are required to walk the dog at least once a day, as was I at their age. They are 9 and 11, and I do not worry about them keeping control (the dog is on a lead on the road, and then off lead off road). Our pup is quite small (about 30lbs), but I walked our Collie and our Springer as a child, and my children go out for walks with their friends with bigger dogs too. But then I live in an area where you frequently meet dogs wandering around (makes my pup very happy) with no apparent worries about the police or dog wardens.

Surely whether you can walk your dogs or not depends on how well they are trained? It seems very sad to never walk your dogs together.

No, DD is 11 and not very strong. She won't be walkng our 22kg dog until much older. Her friend who is the same age walks their not very big lab but can't control her. Even my usually laid back about these things neighbour said it is an accident waiting to happen after seeing them in action.

DSs(9 and 11) take Dill out round the block but he's only a cocker spaniel. He pulls but they can manage him and they have strict instructions on how to behave if they meet someone. If I didn't think they could walk him safely, they wouldn't be out with him.

I tested them in the woods where it mattered less if he ran off.

nooka i think that is what worried me about these dogs. tehy were really straining at the leads and the boys didn't seem to have any control over them. maybe the fact that there were so many boys made a difference, they would maybe have been able to help if one of the dogs had tried to bolt.