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?

Kids today will never know the excitement of seeing a dog in the school playground!

I remember this in the 70s. We didn't let our dog roam but a few of the village dogs were free range. One was called Simon, a corgi/collie cross. He waited for us outside his house as we walked to school and would bring a stone for us to throw. He'd drop it in front of us and bark. We threw it for him all the way to school then he'd trot off. Same after school - drop stone and bark. It seemed completely normal at the time.

Yes!!!! I used to pretend one of the roomers belonged to me and my friend. It would walk along (lead less) next to us. It was a black lab. We’d even go and ‘call for it’ and it would trot out from the side of the house in owner’s full knowledge!

*roamers

I remember the white poo but definitely not roaming dogs. I grew up in the 60s and 70s in greater London so was it a thing in that sort of area and I was oblivious?

Yes, I can remember free range dogs throughout the 1970s. They tended to be smaller mongrel breeds and the bigger and/or pedigree ones would be kept in their gardens.

I lived in a fairly new estate in a village, @RaininSummer . Maybe it was less common in big cities?

Ooh the nostalgia! We had a yellow lab called Barney (70s), lived in a council flat, no garden but big grassy area outside and woods beyond, dogs and kids let out in the morning (kids from about 3 upwards ) kids would all go off on adventures together, dog would wander (often to the butchers) you went home when you were hungry or injured. If the dog wasn't home when it got dark we'd stand at the front door and yell at the top of our lungs BAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRNEEEEEEEEEEYYYYY and he'd come running. In the summer he'd be gone for days when the farm dog was in season. I think he really was my first love bless him!

I grew up in the 40s/50s and our family dog was let out. I lived in a NE pit village, my dad was in a wheelchair and used to say to the dog,”Haddaway round the block lad!” Off the god would go and would come back a little while later. By the time we got our second dog when I was 15 she was walked on a lead once a day and otherwise let in the garden to pee.

DOG not god!!!!!!

I don't remember roaming but I deffo remember white poo!!!

They still do here - semi rural Ireland. 3 let our all the time on our estate.

I was bitten twice by a vicious dog a couple of doors down from our house, just for walking past. It used to go crazy jumping at everyone who went past, so every time I left the house I worried about it being there. My parents said it was my fault and I must have provoked it.
It massively contributed to my fear of dogs and even though my kids want one there’s no way in hell that’s happening.
The same people still live there and have had a succession of dogs with zero evidence of any training.

Yeah, I think we just let our dog out. The garden was not dog proof.

And white dog poos. No one cleaned up after their dogs in those days.

I was an 80s kid and our dog definitely didn't go out to roam. He did get out once or twice though by jumping the enormous gate and going for a run round the quarry.
I do remember most days a random dog would walk with me to school, it would just tag along, sometimes the same dog frequently and sometimes different dogs each day.
We also had quite a few dogs getting into classrooms in the summer when doors were left open. There was never much of a rush to get them out.

In the early 90s a dog that was regularly loose bit my brother on the face. He was sat on a step and it just suddenly sunk its teeth in when it walked past him.

When I was around 9 years old, 1970s, we moved to a new build council housing estate that was full of families. Lots of dogs were left to roam and they hung about in small packs, but we were used to seeing them around and just ignored them and they generally ignored us.

I remember there was a chow chow we were told to stay away from as it was nasty and it fought with other dogs. I also remember a huge great dane that used to come to the primary school playground to play with the kids at break. The school did nothing to stop it as it seemed ok.

And yes, I remember lots of white dog poo.

@iknowimcoming

That's lovely - Barney off on his adventures!

It just seems impossible now, doesn't it, that we'd let our dogs out for the day and generally just expect them home for tea!

Lol I think you've hit the nail on the head there 😂

I was a child in the 70s and remember both the wandering dogs (which I never recall being vicious) and the white poo. They didn’t get run over because less people had cars, and the cars they had didn’t get driven at silly speeds by lunatics. At least not where I lived.

dogs never got stolen because all the dogs I remember were true Heinz 57. With not that many dogs being castrated or spayed, and less money available there were always free puppies available. I also remember them being responsive to anyone, “go home Bess” to a neighbours dog and she would, whoever told her.

Maybe that mixed breeding and relaxed easy lifestyle contributed towards less badly behaved or vicious, unpredictable pets.

or maybe I’m just looking back through rose tinted glasses.

We had a dog in the 70s and he would occasionally get out, but otherwise we walked him three times a day. I did have a neighbour in the 90s who used to just let her dog out then she'd sit by the window til it came back.
As for dog poo - I don't recall seeing it much but we never used to pick up after our dog! No one did.

I always feel a bit a sorry for the modern British dog who is cooped up, crate trained and leashed. If I was a dog, I would rather be free range and risk the mange and the traffic. I’d like to be a Greek dog who could roam the local tavernas with my buddies. It isn’t so good for humans though!

Yes, I remember my grandmas dog just being let out to go wherever he wanted. She'd shout his name at the front door when it was time for his tea

We used to think white dog poo was poodle (white) poo!😂

I’d forgotten about seeing dogs wandering around the streets, it was the norm when I was a child. You didn’t think anything of it. Children were generally as free to play with their friends- I used to cycle around the lanes to a nearby village, with my friends and younger sisters, aged 7 or 8. We’d take a picnic, be gone for hours.
No mobile phone and I doubt we had any coins for this phone box had anything happened. Mum would say ‘Be back for tea’ and that was it! Did horrible things happen to children? Probably, but no social media etc so we’d have been blissfully unaware.

A lot of the farm dogs around here are still free range - one takes itself down the track to the beach and will join you on a walk

But it seems to know it's "boundaries" and will turn back if you go too far from home.