How safe do you feel walking your dog at the moment?

[StillMedusa]

Apologies if it's been asked before, but today for the first time I realised that currently I don't :(
My girl needs at least one long off lead walk a day (she gets an on lead one in the mornings) and I've happily taken her through woodland, fields, fairly remote places..I prefer them as she can be unpredictable with unknown dogs and her happy place is anywhere she can hunt for squirrels or mice and be dog.
Earlier this week I was in one of our usual haunts when I noticed a pair of men ..no dog.. walking behind me... and it felt like they were watching me quite closely..and my dog. Luckily we weren't far from a cut through to a road so we nipped through.. they watched me go but didn't follow.

Of course it could have been entirely innocent..but it FELT wrong. I have rare breed dog and the spate of thefts here.. police confirmed.. make me nervous. I don't want to stop walking her off lead, (she wouldn't approach a stranger anyway but I guess she could be grabbed) but I don't feel SAFE.

I've pondered whether I could carry something protective but wouldn't want to be in trouble if it was illegal!
What are other people doing to be safe?

I have a rescue unknown breed but she looks like a popular, desirable crossbreed. I’m sticking to main roads at the moment after recent reports.

I don't ever feel 100% safe nowadays. I don't walk my dog when it's dark so I make sure it's done during the day and for his night time stroll my DP walks him.

I have found that since I had my DS I'm more conscious of these things.

There’s literally just been a post on my local Facebook page about this today at the local playing field where I take all 4 of mine 🙁

I’ve now started walking my dogs separately so that I can focus all my attention on one dog as I worry that I might get distracted with more than one at a time. As you can imagine with 4 dogs this taking a lot of time.

The only thing I’ve started doing is carrying our extra large flexi lead - don’t use it for the dogs as I use long training lines if I don’t want them off lead - but the flexi lead handle is very solid and heavy and I’d imagine if I hit someone with it then it’d hurt enough to maybe make them lose their grip on my dog.

It’s horrible that in broad daylight I’m not feeling safe walking my dogs.

My mum wants to buy us all an alarm but my DP says it we wouldn't be able to use it when we are in panick mode.

I don't worry too much about my dog being stolen from me whilst I'm walking as he's a large Labrador that will growl at men wearing hats. At the same time I would never leave him outside a shop on his own.

Mine's a medium-large dog..and unusual so other dog walkers often ask me what breed she is. She will also bark at strange men in hoodies... on one other occasion when a rather odd man started following me and a friend she actually went up to him (she never does that) and barked at him to make him go away.. both my friend and I had felt somewhat unnerved by him but he looked, sadly like someone with a bad drug habit rather than dangerous to us.

I might buy a chain lead..not to put her on, but so I have something heft in my hand if needed . She wears a tracker but it wouldn't take logn for a thief to remove it.

My boy is a large, handsome entire dog and I do worry about this. I thought about buying a bodycam. My sister wears one when she’s out on her horse, they’re quite easy to do.

I've just had this conversation with my husband.
We had our elderly dog PTS last year but in his prime he got lots of attention - he was a cross breed but looked like a sought after bull breed type. He was also daft as a brush and had no guard instinct at all! I'd certainly change my walking habits if he was still around.
We are hopefully rehoming a new dog very soon so it's on my mind as chief dog walker. I have one of those button poker/handle puller jobbies on my keyring so would probably try and utilise that but in a panic who knows?
I saw a tip on a rescue site recently - they suggested using a small carabiner as well as the lead attachment to clip to the lead and harness so it can't be unclipped quickly. They also said to use metal chain leads but this is no good for long lead walkers.
It's so bloody awful that we have to think of these things.

I have a golden spaniel puppy. He attracts so much attention. He’s not friendly to strangers and would probably bite if someone grabbed him. Not sure if that would be enough to put them off though. I do worry when walking him alone.

I have an alarm now and a criminal identifier spray. It sprays dye onto either the dog to make it less desirable or into the face of the person trying to take the dog. Amazon say it’s harmless and legal but takes a day or two to wash off and might just put someone off.

I use a blue lead on my pup to make her look like a boy. I hate walking her. I think the worst about every van than drives by, every person that walks past. I feel more comfortable on desolate footpaths than the roads, because there's nobody driving past, but then I also worry that there's nobody else around and it could be a bad idea. I had a slow moving van experience last month, and it's left me really on edge, two men in a van crawling next to me, watching me, I ended up just running as fast as I could to home. I spoke to another local dog walker, elderly lady, who had the same and she just walked up a random drive to their door (genius idea) - as she said, what used to be a pleasurable experience has turned into something terrifying.

I walk ours at night for around an hour (as well as day usually but I always do the evening one as it’s “my time” and it’s often when I will call my mum for example) in the dark around south London streets so all urban. I’m not worried as he is quite large so would be impossible to pick up and carry off. And he’s a pack animal so good luck to anyone trying to pull him away by the lead. And of course he’s not a puppy so probably not the target market. I wouldn’t walk for an hour at night on my own so having him enables me to get out. And I’m not adjusting my behaviour. But it makes me furious that other dog owners are being made to feel like this. Good news that the government is beefing up the response to these crimes.

I have a very large black German Shepard crossed with a lab he's over 7 stone and tall. I don't think anyone could physically take him away from me. He's also suspicious of things and if I'm nervous about something (last week we were running late on the school run and I was flapping and as we walked down the lane he barked at the first person we saw as he could tell there was somthing wrong) he'll try and protect me.
However if he was smaller and a bit dafter I would be worried about walking him in secluded spots.
Which is awful and I really feel for the people with smaller sort after breeds. It's not something you should have to worry about. 💐

Dog-napping/Sarah Everard has definitely made me think twice about walking my dog alone off-the-path. I have an alarm in my pocket but it's really not as loud as you'd expect. Am changing my route for the moment. Means the dog will get a less interesting walk but will be safer.

I have a natural park within 5 minutes of my home. I walk there daily and see the same dog walkers. All say hello etc. I feel safe most of the time but wouldn’t go there alone after 4/5pm when there’s nobody around. Sad but a reality.

This has affected me more than it should really. I have mh issues and my dog and walking her really was like therapy. I don't feel safe doing that now. Its spoilt the bit of joy in my day.

The other day I was walking her off lead with my toddler dd and a man in a car driving slowly came up the road, which is strange because its not really drivable that's why people walk on it with dogs off. He was staring at me and dd and ddog. Probably innocent but my heart was going so fast. I put ddog on the lead. Two ladies who were walking without a dog must have noticed too as they came over to me and stayed with me for a while and said how strange it was seeing a car up there.

This is hard as we do have a puppy - female miniature poodle and too little to have been spayed yet: so a prime target. I have only done short walks around home (London) so it's fairly busy - we meet people all the time and loads stop and talk and ask her age and breed! Most are other dog owners but I'm hyper aware of any vans etc.

Not entirely sure what I could do if a couple of people threatened me and grabbed her though! She's never off lead as she has dodgy recall at the moment and I'm too worried about her disappearing. She's also in a short lead so close to me. Only plus is she's very wary of strangers so growls and backs away usually. But she's too small to put someone off!

I mostly feel pretty safe but I am definitely more alert than usual. The pup was admired by three lads on a bench the other day and I noticed a few minutes later that they were walking 100 yards behind us. This made me twitchy, but when I turned off, they carried on along the main path, so it had been completely innocent.

I live fairly rurally, so I know a lot of local dog walkers. That helps. But I also know a lot of owners of gundogs, and two lots of friends-of-friends have had their kennels cleared out. That does not help.

Consider what you have on you and what else you may normally carry around

Contrary to the daily Mail you can defend yourself to any reasonable level, under which ‘reasonable’ is at the time - not with hindsight.
But you cannot plan to ‘defend’ with a weapon. Even something innocuous and fully ‘legal’ becomes illegal if your intent to use it renders it an offensive weapon.
It’s perfectly normal for a woman to have hair care in their handbag, and could pull out a brush, they may or may not use a comb. If you decide to carry a comb with a spike handle then that has become an offensive weapon of your intent is the plan to use it to defend you.
But a chunky brush can batter an attacker, and the handle used to poke them in a stabby way.

Hair spray etc is perfectly normal in a handbag

You might not be carrying your handbag with all of your makeup whilst walking the dog in a field. Do you have something in your jacket pocket? Perhaps you always carry an emergency mini hairspray in your coat pocket in case you need a quick spruce up without your whole makeup kit to hand

Keys are useful, and are a bit ‘stabby’ without being blades, so can be used in a struggle - but if you drop car keys during a struggle and get away from an immediate attack. then that could prevent you from getting into your car and leaving

Self defence alarms work by volume and also call for attention - if there is someone near enough. Out dog walking in the woods it will make a loud noise and you can run away, but when you stop pressing the trigger it goes silent - so could be taken from you in a struggle

Alarms, and marking sprays will be legal to carry - you aren’t intending to harm anyone and you’re in a reasonable level of ‘fear’ in the 21st century. You can get over that fear with an alarm etc
Pepper spray is illegal, there are similar sprays that claim legality but you may or may not find yourself trying to justify what happened depending on circumstances

Could anything be used against you?

Think about what could happen in situations, look for ways out, avoid escalating and especially avoiding items and actions that could make things worse.

Kicking a man in the crotch hurts - but also makes him angry, we don’t all curl up into a ball at the slightest tap as seen on tv
Stilletto heels down the shin is a stopper
But it’s unlikely that somebody is wearing heels out in the woods, ideally if in heels then there will be a busier area with people around

Check out some YouTube’s but if it’s all about how tough you can be and fighting back then move over to another channel, if it’s about getting out of a situation, fighting to a level and getting out then keep watching. The key is protection - what is going to stop something bad happening and get out out of the situation fast

I’m happy to walk Dog1 by myself either in rural places or at night. She’s a very friendly and good natured dog but she’s very protective of me, especially if I’m on my own. I’ve walked her when it’s dark and if someone approaches, she will give a very clear, stay away bark. She’s a medium dog, designer mongel so could be quite easy to take but she’s got a massive bark. I’ve also been walking her rurally and a jogger ran toward me (innocently) and she let him know not to come any closer. She’s even barked at DH when it was dark, DH slipped onto a grassy embankment with pup to do a bit of training and as dog1 saw a figure come down the embankment she made it clear that she was on guard. When she realised it was DH, she was still slightly on guard. I used to apologise for her barking at people when we were alone but now I make her sit her next to me (so the person can get past safely as sometimes it is innocent)and let her bark. I’m happy to let people know that she’s not going to be taken easily or let anything happen to me, even though most of my encounters are innocent.

However, I will not walk pup by myself somewhere rurally or at night. He’s a lab puppy and not at all defensive. As we got pup in October DH has been doing most of pup’s walking and as a result, pup walks better for DH. I’m hoping as it gets lighter, pup and I can do some pavement walks so he’s better on lead for me. I’m also hoping as we can go further afield, I might ask DH to supervise dog1 and I’ll do some training with pup as we want our dogs to be equally responsive to both of us. I probably won’t take him somewhere quiet by myself until he’s bigger and even then only if dog1 is with us as he’ll follow her.

I work as a dog walker and I'm out on my own with dogs all day long. I couldn't do my job if I lived in fear of the dogs being stolen. I take reasonable precautions and vary routes, times and locations but I have to make a living.

I know dog theft is blowing up all over social media but please remember that a lot of these stories are just that - stories. Yes, theft is on the rise but the vast majority of dogs that get stolen go missing from outside kennels or gardens.

MILLIONS of people own dogs in this country and only a tiny percentage of those dogs are ever stolen. It's also important to remember that dogs going missing is not the same as dogs being stolen. Dogs running off on walks and getting lost, dogs escaping out of front doors or open gates - these things happen everyday, yet I've noticed an increasing number of people saying "dog missing, presumed stolen" when in fact the dog has just gotten out of an open gate.

The most important things to do are get your dogs neutered so they can't be used for breeding, make sure they're chipped and wearing up to date ID tags and don't ever leave the unattended in a car, outside a shop or in the garden. I use metal leads so that they can't be cut through as well, and never walk with headphones etc. in so that I can hear and see anything unusual.

But that's just normal basic dog safety to me, and what people should be doing regardless of the increase in theft.

I no longer walk Bella very early morning as eighteen months ago it was reported that a woman was dragged into a church yard and raped on a early morning dog walk not two miles from here. It really shook me as that isn't a particularly quiet area and is a bus route and I would have considered it safe at 7.30am and light. I don't go before eight anymore and I walk away from the trails which isn't as nice but feels safer.

I don't worry because my boy really doesn't like strangers. He never approaches people in the park, but when people try to stroke him he'll snarl - pretty sure if anyone tried to grab him or me for that matter they would end up in a&e

I take my dogs old collar and twist it round my hand and through the lead handle. I've also got a twisty caribena and that goes through the normal clip onto her harness so it can't be taken off.

When I walk mine alone I have long leads that buckle around my waist so my hands are always free and the connector to the lead/harness is a bit trickier than a normal one, you have to squeeze it quite wide to open it so not something I hope someone could do in a struggle if they tried to steal my dogs.
Then are really protective anyway, especially in the dark and big so you couldn’t lift them and run.

Funnily enough though last week in my local park, I was chatting to another dog owner I know just as he was leaving. There was a lone man just walking around and I didn’t think too much of it. However once the other dog owner left I suddenly became really aware that there was only me and this other lone man in the whole park and he kept looking over. He wasn’t dressed for exercise, didn’t have a dog. I changed direction and so did he so I grabbed dogs and made for the exit to be near houses.
Could have been innocent but I’m so aware these days especially as one of my dogs is a rarer breed. I had 2 people comment on her yesterday asking what breed she is and ‘ooh you never see many of those any more.’

@sunflowersandbuttercups

I work as a dog walker and I'm out on my own with dogs all day long. I couldn't do my job if I lived in fear of the dogs being stolen. I take reasonable precautions and vary routes, times and locations but I have to make a living.

I know dog theft is blowing up all over social media but please remember that a lot of these stories are just that - stories. Yes, theft is on the rise but the vast majority of dogs that get stolen go missing from outside kennels or gardens.

MILLIONS of people own dogs in this country and only a tiny percentage of those dogs are ever stolen. It's also important to remember that dogs going missing is not the same as dogs being stolen. Dogs running off on walks and getting lost, dogs escaping out of front doors or open gates - these things happen everyday, yet I've noticed an increasing number of people saying "dog missing, presumed stolen" when in fact the dog has just gotten out of an open gate.

The most important things to do are get your dogs neutered so they can't be used for breeding, make sure they're chipped and wearing up to date ID tags and don't ever leave the unattended in a car, outside a shop or in the garden. I use metal leads so that they can't be cut through as well, and never walk with headphones etc. in so that I can hear and see anything unusual.

But that's just normal basic dog safety to me, and what people should be doing regardless of the increase in theft.

Absolutely agree with this.