Should all dogs be walked on leads?

Celli

catkins wrote: »

It's not illegal to have a dog offlead on a public road. It is up to each Council to decide whether it is allowed or not. My Council allow it.

Obviously, I can't comment on your particular council, but the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 1 states
(1)A person who causes or permits a dog to be on a designated road without the dog being held on a lead is guilty of an offence.

Perhaps it's different here in Scotland, as this law is in effect, whether anyone bothers about it ,is a different matter.

adouglasmhor

Celli wrote: »

Obviously, I can't comment on your particular council, but the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 1 states
(1)A person who causes or permits a dog to be on a designated road without the dog being held on a lead is guilty of an offence.

Perhaps it's different here in Scotland, as this law is in effect, whether anyone bothers about it ,is a different matter.

I think the confusion is as to what is a designated road, the act is a bit unclear.

Beetlemama

I wish we could have dog parks where you'd pay to join and had to prove you have a nice dog to be allowed membership. I don't even know how they'd regulate that but i wish they could. I hate loose dogs running up to mine, ears up, tails stiff, she's a good girl but she's pretty twitchy, she's very high-energy, they always come racing up too fast and freak her out.

Nice old Labradors or Golden retrievers wandering off-lead with old men don't bother her at all, they stop and touch noses and then everyone goes about their business, but the over hyper dogs make her skippy and in turn she makes them worse.

My other one is so calm and easy going she can walk off in most places but we leash her in the street, just like we held our sons hand until we were sure he wouldn't do anything silly (about 7), they're so precious and you can lose them so quickly to one mistake.

zaksmum

Beetlemama wrote: »

I wish we could have dog parks where you'd pay to join and had to prove you have a nice dog to be allowed membership. I don't even know how they'd regulate that but i wish they could. I hate loose dogs running up to mine, ears up, tails stiff, she's a good girl but she's pretty twitchy, she's very high-energy, they always come racing up too fast and freak her out.

Nice old Labradors or Golden retrievers wandering off-lead with old men don't bother her at all, they stop and touch noses and then everyone goes about their business, but the over hyper dogs make her skippy and in turn she makes them worse.

My other one is so calm and easy going she can walk off in most places but we leash her in the street, just like we held our sons hand until we were sure he wouldn't do anything silly (about 7), they're so precious and you can lose them so quickly to one mistake.

It really is down to the owner. Nice old dogs with old men rarely create a problem. It's the "Weapon Dogs" with shaven headed thugs that usually want to kill other dogs. I cross the road sharpish if I see one of them coming.

NervousHomeowner

I think it would be a shame to see similar laws to those they have in the US. I think it's lovely that we have a culture where dogs can go offlead and burn off their energy. The vast majority of owners are responsible and don't let their dogs cause an issue, and really it would be sad to legislate against the irresponsible few who probably wouldn't pay attention to the new rules anyway.

As with any legislation that is hard to enforce, I think laws about dogs being on lead would only really affect those who would police themselves. It would become very similar to dog fouling laws where those who are responsible owners pick up after their dogs and those who are irresponsible let their dog foul anywhere and very rarely see any consequences to their actions.

spacey2012 wrote: »

Compulsory third party insurance for dogs would solve many issues.
Those with dog types that pose most risk would pay the highest premium.
Dogs should be insured against.

The Cost of veterinary treatment caused to another animal by attack risk.
The cost of damage caused in the event of a road collision.
Risk of attacking member of public and subsequent medical costs and compensation.
Combine this with compulsory dog chipping.
Non pedigree dogs must be categorised at chipping stage in to sub breeds, fighting dog, working dog, hunting dog, domestic pet, toy dog.

Those who insist on walking round with fighting breed dogs pay the insurance premium.
At the moment if one of these muscle dogs attacks yours, the responsible owner has to pay all the vet bills, thats if your dog survives.
In any society, that is not right or just.

The problem is that this wouldn't affect those causing a problem, it would only affect the owners who are already responsible. If someone is irresponsible enough to allow their dog to attack other dogs, chances are they won't be the sort of owner to think 'I must buy a 3rd part policy because it's the law!'. Plus, it would be nigh on impossible to enforce or regulate effectively.

Furthermore, not all aggressive dogs are 'fighting breeds' (I presume you mean bull breeds?). Plenty of dogs can be aggressive (In fact if I remember correctly, Cocker Spaniels are one of the top breeds for bites/attacks) so to penalise all owners of bull breeds would be ridiculous, because plenty of those dogs cause no harm at all. There is currently an overwhelming number of bull breeds in rescue and enforcing legislature whereby they are harder/more expensive to insure would make it even more difficult to persuade people to adopt them, thereby making the situation worse.

ariba10

zaksmum wrote: »

It really is down to the owner. Nice old dogs with old men rarely create a problem. It's the "Weapon Dogs" with shaven headed thugs that usually want to kill other dogs. I cross the road sharpish if I see one of them coming.

I think you will find that most "Old men " have taken the time and effort to train the dog.

To Sit and Stay Ect as well as walk to heel without a lead, Haltie or any other fancy device.

adouglasmhor

zaksmum wrote: »

It really is down to the owner. Nice old dogs with old men rarely create a problem. It's the "Weapon Dogs" with shaven headed thugs that usually want to kill other dogs. I cross the road sharpish if I see one of them coming.

Some people cross the road when they see me with my dogs, while I have short hair I am no thug, and my dogs are big but unless you are a rabbit, hare or deer etc.(or cat) they have no desire to harm you (and as they are awlays on the lead they don't get a chance).
Me I don't wear gym kit - unless on my way to the gym.

Them.

catkins

Celli wrote: »

Obviously, I can't comment on your particular council, but the Road Traffic Act 1988 section 1 states
(1)A person who causes or permits a dog to be on a designated road without the dog being held on a lead is guilty of an offence.

krlyr wrote: »

The law is that dogs must be on-lead on designated highways, but not every road is a designated highway.
.

adouglasmhor wrote: »

I think the confusion is as to what is a designated road, the act is a bit unclear.

I would like to know which roads are classed as "designated highways". I live in a built up part of Essex and according to my local council and dog warden is perfectly ok and legal to walk dogs along the roads with no leads. A lot of the roads, obviously are very busy. Cars, buses, lorries etc run along a lot of them.

My particular road is pretty busy - in fact local parents are campaigning for a crossing as they say the road is so busy when they walk children to and from school it is dangerous to try and get across the road. Yet the council say it is ok to walk a dog offlead along it when the owner cannot possibly be totally sure that their dog would not run into the road and cause an accident!

I am all for dogs having a lovely run offlead in appropriate places - parks, beaches, woods etc as long as they are friendly and have good recall. I would hate all public places to bring in a ban for offlead dogs. I don't think though that dogs should be walked along roads offlead even if their owners think their dog is ok.

Most of the owners that walk their dogs offlead along pavements near me (and there are lots of them) seem to have no control over their dogs. I ended up having to muzzle my previous dog as he hated dogs running up to him when he was on lead and jumping and sniffing (he had been attacked while on lead) as I was scared he may bite them. This is why I have been on to the council and dog warden on several occasions

GwylimT

How do you hold your toes like that?

We don't use leads with dogs after a few weeks as we have trained them all well to behave appropriately on walks, although our current dog sees walk as form of torture and you're lucky to get him to go more than a few yards.

We have only had one problem while dog walking, we were on holiday on a dog section of a beach in Wales and a black lab ran upto our boxer, no worries we thought but I had hold of his collar which is something I always did if a dog approached. The black lab attacked our dog, but as I was next to him I was able to separate them quickly so physically there wasn't a lot of damage. However for a long time we had to attend socialising classes with our dog as it made him fear dogs and this would sometimes lead to aggressive behaviour such as growling at other dogs.

The owner of the lab didn't care at all and actually admitted that the dog had previously attacked as they said "she hasn't done that for a while" well something along those lines as it was a while ago.

adouglasmhor

GwylimT wrote: »

How do you hold your toes like that?.

I always have been able to, I can pick things up with my feet and pass them to my hands, a useless skill but it has been used in martial arts displays a few times.

GwylimT wrote: »

We don't use leads with dogs after a few weeks as we have trained them all well to behave appropriately on walks, although our current dog sees walk as form of torture and you're lucky to get him to go more than a few yards.

Most greyhounds have to be on a lead at all times unless in a fenced area, as their prey drive overrides everything else.