Frustrated at lack of good off lead dog walks

[familyconflict]

I’m feeling so frustrated at restrictions being placed on free spaces for dogs. Trying to move and find a place with good access to walks in the South.

I have owned dogs for many years. Have excellent control, responsible owner, leads near livestock, pick up poo etc.

On a walk - for the majority of time, I want my dogs to run free. They are a breed that need to. It is not ‘dog friendly’ to say dogs on leads. It is the same as saying kids can only walk not run. It isn’t fair and doesn’t work. Dogs need to run and that is part of the joy of walking them. ( I have kids BTW)

I live near a town with very low ratio of square meters of green space per person. Thought I had found a location on the outskirts with good walks but the National Trust who own a small bit and council have decided that the main bit of accessible greenery ( that lots of people use) is going to have a few grazing livestock on for “wildflowers/eco” reasons. All going through and sign are going up demanding dogs will need to be on 2 m leads.

It is making me angry so I am trying to find info or a database with details of good spaces, free of restrictions. Just wondered if anyone is aware of anything online?

My dog is walked on lead all the time due to an old injury. It's too risky for him to run uncontrolled off lead as it might not be possible to repair his leg if the same injury was sustained again. He chooses the speed and direction of the walk, I wander off-path through the mud with him and stand around so he can sniff to his heart's content. He loves his walks!

In my experience as someone with a dog who is permanently on lead, good recall is a myth. Once an off lead dog decides they want to approach my dog, I don't think I can recall a single incident - in years of daily walks - when the owner has been able to successfully recall their dog. Luckily my dog isn't aggressive and entertains each meeting politely but it is often under duress and I know he would have preferred not to. And it happens not infrequently that small off lead dogs come up to shout or grumble at him (he's a large breed) without the owners even noticing. He's now anxious of all smaller dogs as a result.

I would be happy to see more dogs on leads.

Dogs' needs are individual and vary by dog. Bit like people really.

There are also various ways to ensure that a dog is happy, well-exercised and stimulated.

Any dog owner who thinks it's one size fits all is, frankly, wrong!

Then surely it's wrong for people to insist all dogs should stay on the lead?

You've conflated two issues there. Safety issues re off lead dogs are separate to an individual dog's issues / needs. Which is why so many places now stipulate that dogs should be on leads as safety is paramount to them over the desire of the owner to let their dog off lead.

Unfortunately, the behaviour of a large minority of dog owners who can't be arsed to train their dogs to not be a nuisance has had a knock on effect for well-trained, non-aggressive, dogs.

Again, you're assuming an on-lead dog is automatically safer and better controlled than an off-lead one, and it's simply not true.

I agree that a minority is ruining it for the majority but that's not a reason to try and enforce generalised "on lead" rules for every single dog. What does need to happen is that on/off-lead areas should be better enforced and we need more dog wardens etc. to make sure owners control their dogs.

As a dog walker, my biggest issue with on-lead dogs yanking their owners all over the place and lunging at my dogs. And don't get me started on dogs on flexi-leads trailing metres away from their oblivious owners, lol.

Oh, and I don't believe I'm conflating two issues.

Leads don't make dogs safe on their own (it's all about the owner having proper control), but the use of leads can restrict dogs from behaving naturally and it's important that we don't go down the road of restricting the lives of well-behaved, well-socialised dogs based on a minority of reactive or badly behaved ones.

ii am really lucky with the green space where i live, ramshackle farms, no sheep
just 5 miles away you would struggle
what about woods op?
they are generlaly off lead

The land that the 'free runners' feel they should be allowed to use, as and when, belongs to someone. Why should a landowner find it acceptable for dogs, often in multiples, to run and shite all over it. Why should they just shrug their shoulders when the ground nesting birds are disturbed, Pheasants chased and livestock damaged or killed? I see mention of a small dog field being an unacceptable compromise. That statement alone confirms that their dog is off, way ahead of them, likely rushing through hedgerows and game brush. Take a moment to guess what has happened to those dogs you see lost and never recovered on SM? Could they have been caught with livestock and dealt with? Or, like I found last year, a skeleton of a dog with it's head trapped in a field drain. It had a lovely collar, I bet the family was distraught. Clearly it was free running (for whatever reason) and had no chance of being found whilst in distress. It's not something I want to find again either...and it's the second occasion in my lifetime.

It's a very large minority of badly behaved dogs where I live! It's like the Wild West out there.

And I'm with you on flexi leads. Some fucking idiot let their dog get tangled up with mine, and my legs, the other week, all in the blink of an eye! That was less than fun getting us all untangled while the owner just stood there being useless.

However, some dogs do need to be on a lead for their own safety. They can still have an amazing time on walks!

Oh that's so sad, @Ohfgswhat. That poor dog. 😢

However, some dogs do need to be on a lead for their own safety. They can still have an amazing time on walks!

Yep, and I've never once disagreed with that.

But that doesn't mean all dogs should be subjected to a life on a lead. If a dog is well-behaved, under control and well-socialised, it should be able to enjoy doing what is natural - running, swimming, sniffing, rolling, exploring.

I personally find it quite upsetting that so many dog owners want to stop millions of dogs from enjoying those things. Why have a dog if you don't want to let it behave like one? Where suitable and safe, of course.

Or, like I found last year, a skeleton of a dog with it's head trapped in a field drain. It had a lovely collar, I bet the family was distraught. Clearly it was free running

That's horrendous, but still not a reason to deny all dogs the freedom of being off the lead. IMO, buying a dog only to keep it tethered with a lead is the equivalent of buying a bird and never letting it fly out of a cage, or buying a rabbit that never leaves its' hutch. It's not right.

@familyconflict "Statements like “ in order to be properly controlled a dog must be on a lead” - I’m sorry but that’s utter codswallop. I had a wild deer run from behind me, through my dogs. 1 went to chase, I called him and he turned and came straight back. It’s called training."

As someone who hunted extensively since a young age, spending alot of time out at dawn I've never seen a deer run THROUGH a person or dogs. Is someone drugging your local deer? It made me doubt the rest of your post tbh. Is your dog fed vegan?

We are in West Sussex and have miles lovely off lead walking where we hardly see another soul, whereabouts are you?

I called my two back from a golden retriever on a lead this morning. The owner then said, oh, he's friendly, so I let my two say hello.

I'm not denying that there are pita dogs out there - same walk, a cockapoo rushed over and jumped up leaving a wet paw mark on my jeans.

I always ask if we can approach other dogs, whether they're on or off lead. It's only polite! Our dog loves other dogs, but only if they're not too bouncy as he detests being jumped on (he'd hate wrestling with other dogs!).

@familyconflict I think mine is one of the posts you are objecting to.

I live on the outskirts of a city. There are so many dogs, it's insane. Housing is very dense with lots of flats so most of the dogs won't have access to a garden. There is one large local park where I live. If you go there in the morning at the weekend there must be dozens of dogs. I witness arguments between dogs very regularly. Dogs are only supposed to be off lead in certain areas but a significant minority of their owners just totally ignore this. Some of these dogs come up to you (with small children, with a buggy, when you are eating in the summer) and their owners have no control over them. There is dog shit on the pavement, approximately every 10 seconds as you walk around.

I actually like dogs, and would have literally no problem with well-behaved off lead dogs in a different setting, but to be honest I just think that in urban settings far too many people have dogs. So if you are looking for somewhere to live in a town or city in the south east and complaining about lack of green space to walk a dog I have a different view.

Then let me rephrase; being on a lead is a necessary but not sufficient condition when it comes to properly controlling a dog.

My dog, like yours needs off lead exercise and her behaviour on lead can be less than ideal if she doesn't get enough of it. Unfortunately we live in an area of London where we have a huge pro "dogs should always be on lead" group and our green spaces for off lead walking are slowly being taken away for us as all the "miniature whatever" are more than content getting their exercise whilst on a lead for 20 minutes a day. For perspective we a three - five hours of walks per day kind of household, with at least two hours of lead (averaged over the week). We have a garden but she gets so far unless there's a squirrel to terrorise.

Our chase issues are squirrels. She has a tracker, her recall is pretty good (other than with Squirrels briefly), we pick poop up, we love exploring with her, and most importantly she gets so much more out of her life and day when she's off lead. We are also recall immediately (she does it herself) for deers, cows, horses), and with sheep we recall her - she's only met sheep recently to be fair and is quite interested, but it's always onto a lead and give space.

I've found the Jauntly App fantastic.

People say on lead would reduce dog attacks, but leashing can actually increase reactivity for many, many dogs. And I feel it gives a false sense of security for yappy small dogs to come into the fact of bigger dogs and snap up them (which of course is met with "oh little Fufu isn't going to do any harm, it's just your big dog scaring her... etc).

Now you're not making any sense.

If, as you admit, leads alone are insufficient when it comes to properly controlling a dog, then they can hardly be considered necessary, can they?

It's not the lead that provides control, it's the handler.

I do wonder if this is a city/rural divide, or even just a dog density issue.

We've been walking in the woods today with our dogs, over the course of the 5k or so we did we probably met 10 other people with dogs, only the ones we saw in the car park were on leads. There was no jumping at people or rushing at other dogs. None did more than than a polite sniff before going on their way. That's my experience pretty much every day of the year. In 6 years of dog ownership, I've only ever had one puppy jump up at me (owners were apologetic, I had liver cake in my pocket 😀).

I live on the west Sussex/Hampshire border and we do lots of off lead walks. Less recently as she is in adolescence and we have had to focus more on recall training but we live by a coastal path, two large fields, driving distance of a big sandy beach etc.

Really - you think I’m lying because you don’t believe my story. And no not vegan. What a weird thing to say.

Literally, myself and a friend. On a large recreational field with lots of woods surrounding it. We heard rustling, and a massive deer came charging from behind in broad daylight behind us and past us. Made us jump. Never had an experience like it before. Probably outing myself as I’ve told this story to people but I was so proud of my training. 3 dogs didn’t react. 1 started to chase and when I yelled his name, he swung round on the spot and came back.( because he always gets a titbit when he is called on a walk, he is greedy and that was more appealing than chasing the deer)

And yes I’m starting to think a rural/city thing might be also a point. Someone up thread said there are too many dogs - I think too many people and perhaps the effect of increased asked population. We are more rural and never had issues with dogs we meet. We politely pass off lead. If a dog is on the lead, or it’s a cyclist etc we move out the way. I was looking to move a little closer nearer a town but reading on here I’m coming to the conclusion that’s not wise.

Deer do strange things. I used to go beating with a bloke who was almost knocked flying by a deer that decided that running towards the beating line (people, dogs, noise) was a smarter move than running away from it.

So I can quite believe that a deer would panic and run between dogs.

You are absolutely right. We live in a lovely village where I know all the walks. I know most of the dogs and I will put my dog on the lead if I see someone who has theirs on a lead. I would not consider moving now because I cannot imagine finding anywhere that is so dog friendly. My dog is a priority, that's why I got her, not just to have a dog but to ensure she had a good safe life with us.