Please Put Your Dog On A Lead!!

28 March jma074@optusnet.com.au 0 Comment

Hey Woofa’s,

I’m at the point lately where I want to scream – PLEASE PUT YOUR DOG ON A LEAD – every time we take Billy for a walk.

We walk him down to our local Duck Pond, we do 1-2 laps and come back, all up it can take roughly 35mins.

Normally it’s a pleasurable walk, we mind our business with Billy, if another dog is coming we walk off onto the grass to leave a decent gap and keep walking.

I never force Billy to sniff another dog, because he never wants to, so why would I make him?

The last four times we’ve been on our walk however we’ve come across irresponsible people with their dogs off lead!

These people have been totally oblivious or just don’t care what their dog is up to!

Even when their dog is making a bee line for Billy, ready to bark in his face, there’s no recognition of what their off lead dog is doing.

It’s driving me crazy, our once nice relaxing walk has become extremely frustrating.

OUR FOUR DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES!

The first time this happened was a few weeks ago. We were doing our usual walk around the actual duck pond. As we got close to the kids play area a Shih Tzu ran out barking it’s head off at Billy, who was on a lead minding his own business. Dean kept going and I ran interference by stepping in the dog’s pathway so he wouldn’t run after Billy. Upon looking around to see where it’s owners were, there were two women chatting away on a seat! They were not paying any attention at all to what their dog was doing. I shooed it back to where it came from!
A few days later we did our walk again. This time an elderly lady had her small poodle off lead, it didn’t even have a collar on! We came around the corner, she was walking and the dog stopped to sniff the grass, she kept going. It looked up, saw us walking and made a bee line straight for Billy. The woman hadn’t even turned around. She had no idea her dog had ran off the other way. Dean turned around with Billy while I stood in the dog’s pathway and again shooed it away. The woman turned around and never said a word, just picked her dog up and kept going!
The next time a rather large man was walking his German Shepherd with no lead on. He had the lead in his hand but it wasn’t attached to his dog. Thankfully this dog never saw us, however if it did I know for a fact that this guy would not have had any chance of chasing after his dog!
The next time an elderly woman was walking with her granddaughter and her little dog. Again the dog had a harness on and the woman had a lead in her hand, but the two were not attached. We side tracked around them and thankfully the dog never came near us!

I know for a fact that if in any of those instances Billy had’ve barked back at those dogs, HE would’ve looked like the aggressive one purely because he’s a Stafforshire Bull Terrier.

Even though he was on a lead doing the right thing, if things went bad, Billy would be seen to be blamed!!!

WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE YOUR DOG ON A LEAD IN AN OFF LEAD AREA?

Among the many things that get me about these situations is that there are off lead dog parks in our area!

One of them is just a 2 minute drive from the duck pond where we walk.

Why people can’t just drive there and let their dogs run free is beyond me!

Having your dog off lead in a non off lead area can lead to unnecessary behaviours, such as –

just because your dog is friendly doesn’t give it the right to be off lead;
other dogs might not like your dog running up to them off lead and getting in their faces;
if your dog runs up to another dog barking the other dog may retaliate;
fights can break out from unwanted dogs barking and being in other dog’s faces;
people and dogs can be hurt;
it’s the law that dogs need to be on a lead in a non off lead area;
not everyone has great re-call with their dog. Once your dog is fixated on something how are you going to control it from running up to another dog?
both dogs may be friendly but together they might not be!
its irresponsible to have your dog off lead in a non off lead area!

I’m not the only one who is annoyed by this behaviour from people. I came across an Instagram Post from Dr Katrina Warren , saying something very similar.

WHAT DR KATRINA WARREN HAD TO SAY ABOUT DOGS BEING OFF LEAD IN A NON OFF LEAD AREA!

I really love dogs but PLEASE PUT YOUR DOG ON A LEAD 🐶🐶🐶

Why has this become so difficult? Do people now buy a dog and forget to buy a lead?

Your dog should be on a lead at cafes, walking on the footpath and at parks that are not designated off-leash. It’s for your dog’s safety, as well as the safety of other dogs and people.

It has become impossible for me to walk around my local area without off-leash dogs running up to us.

I don’t understand it – your dog may be friendly, but the dog they run up to may not be. And, why is it OK for your dog to be annoying to others?

I’ve witnessed some dangerous things with fights, knocked-down tables, terrified kids and boiling coffee going all directions, as well as timid dogs and puppies being terrified.

Your dog doesn’t need to “SAY HELLO” What if the other dog (or owner) doesn’t want to “say hello” back?

“My dog just wants to say hello” is usually the excuse people give when their dog has no recall, but why would you let your dog jump in the face of a dog on a lead that you don’t know? It’s so dangerous and I’ve witnessed some dreadful dog fights as a result of this. Please work on your recall or just don’t let them off the lead.

I just want to walk my dog in peace and I know I speak for many others. I’m thankful that Chill is not a reactive dog but he has still been randomly attacked by off lead dogs on the street, and it’s not OK. I can’t imagine how stressful it is for people with reactive dogs who are trying to avoid dogs!

Thank you for reading 🐕🦮🐩🐕‍🦺

#putyourdogonaleash #drkatrina #pettips #vetadvice