Does anyone remember pet dogs being let out to roam???

[EinsteinaGogo]

I was just reading another post about 'the old days'.

Someone remembers pet dogs being let out to roam in the 70s.

Oh my god, does anyone else remember this? And white dog poo on the pavements?

My nan's dog used to kiss everyone on the face, then take himself out for a walk. He was also partial to a tab end out of the ashtrays on the floor. 🤔

Okay.

Now I need to step away from the dog poo!!

Our dog was let out to roam in the early 80s.When he came home he would jump up on the front door to rattle the letterbox to be let in. He also used to go to his doggy friend' s house and 'call' for Patch Walker. (In those days dogs were known by the family surname in our town) They both used to wander around the town and people would greet them by name.

God, yes, I remember loads of dogs out mooching around alone.

@luckylavender

I can imagine - random 'wild' dogs roaming could definitely have been terrifying.

My first dog (back in the late 80s!) used to let himself out. Used to jump over the wall, on top of the car and then bugger off to get fed at various neighbours' houses! He always came back and never went on the road. We lost him at almost 20 so it did him no harm!

Yep, when I was a kid in the 80s our family dog was let out to roam.
He used to visit the butchers but mainly just wandered round the park. He would jump up and stare I the living room window when he wanted to come home.
Many a time he would follow me to school and run around the playground and once he came in and the teacher made me take him home.
I never heard of dogs being run over and we lived quite close to a dual carriageway. Not sure if it's because of less cars or because dogs were just more streetwise.

Yes. You let your dog out in the morning with your kids and they came back at teatime

white poo was a thing, along with melting tarmac on the roads

1976 this was. Dancing Queen was number one

I can't believe this was a thing, never heard of it before!
Why was all their poo white?

We didn’t allow our family dog to roam ( 70s) but my Nan had a retriever that used to go up the local shop to collect the papers every day and he also went for a swim in the afternoons in the local river .

Our dog was always let out. My dad would go out and whistle and she would come running home. We lived near a pig farm and she would generally be around there. A dog from near by would come round most days to visit her. His name was Ringo. I would often pass him in the morning on my way to school. I can't remember seeing dog poo on the pavement like we do these days. Usually white chalky poo on grass verge or on the soil.

My dad called it an 'auto walk' and yes dog used to come out to play with us in London, wander off and come home before or as it got dark. Not so many cars then

I think it was white from the ingredients in dog food. Our dog in the 70s had a tin of Pal or Chum with Winalot biscuits. Also a marrow bone from the butcher that would last for ages.

Yes, this was very common. In fact, people were still doing this where I live up to about ten years ago. Two in particular come to mind - one was a Jack Russell that used to call in at the corner shop at the end of the street every lunchtime because the woman who ran it made a massive fuss of him and gave him a bit of her sandwich. The other was a collie dog that took himself out for a walk twice a day, regular as clockwork...you could have set your watch by him.

This brings back memories! I remember a dog regularly hogging the front of the que at the ice cream van every time, big yellow mongrel, it didn't belong to anyone in out cul-de-sac and got an ice cream, I remember it having a collar on but it never stayed still to get a look. And I did once know the reason for white dog poop, but it's gone. Nobody picked dog poop up in the late 70s early 80s. There was one street near some retirement cottages you never went down, creek it was nick named.

Hairy Maclarey makes so much more sense now!

I remember dogs just wandering about in the street. One dog, from around the corner, used to come to our house and beg for biscuits. This was in the mid-seventies. I also remember white dog poo everywhere.

Apparently white poo was due to high levels of certain minerals in the dog food at the time

Let's just call it s##t creek

He also used to go to his doggy friend' s house and 'call' for Patch Walker. (In those days dogs were known by the family surname in our town)

Our cat Sooty used to go and call for Bimbo O'Donoghue. I still think of cats as having their family's name, although that is probably politically incorrect now.

Yep we did this with our dog , she would sit by the front door till we opened it and the go to her friends house about 3 road's away and hang out in the local park which was next to my primary school so I would often see her playing .

When she wanted to come in she would use her nose to nudge the door knocker.

This wasn’t so much a thing where I grew up but I do remember it happening in my grandparents village- it was a small community and everyone knew where each dog lived. Must have been common where my mum grew up too as she remembers her little dachshund following her to school and running into the road to get to her only to be hit and killed by a passing car 😢

My friend lives in Corsica and the dogs in her town still do this, including hers. The only time it has caused problems is when a gang of them go and wind up the tourist golfers by nicking the golf balls off the course. They come back at around 5pm for their dinner.

I used to meet a lovely German Shepherd at the bus stop every morning on my way to school. It used to get on the bus travel 3 stops and get off . Every school morning. I remember gangs of dogs at the park too and obviously all dog poo was white

In the 80s a fucking neighbours dog used to roam the street and almost killed our cat - he saw it sleeping on our doorstep and attacked it.
I also remember the ubiquitous white poo. Dog poo seems less of a problem now.