Do you let your Dog run without a lead?

[Widge]

A friends parents were into Shakespeare and had a Lab called Puck, a typical lab generaly obedient but only when it wanted to be. My friend hated the disproving looks he used to get while walking across the fields shouting PUCK! at the top of his voice.

 

[Coolcats]

How do you put a lead on a badger or a fox? A stoat, a Weasel?

Clearly a trick question

 

[Widge]

How do you put a lead on a badger or a fox? A stoat, a Weasel?

I have certainly seen a lead on a ferret, same family.

 

[tribalbrit]

Why not shoot the feral kids too or put them on a lead. Regularly see kids playing football, running among the undergrowth on the RSPB reserve, Or the cyclists that ride over the heathland, ignoring the signs forbidding it.
I have kids and I have a dog. All are well behaved and do as they are told.
No point walking a spaniel on the lead, she'd want to go for another walk as soon as we returned home.
It's all about the owners. Not the dogs.

 

[vzac]

Why arnt farm dogs kept on leads?

Do farm dogs have designated areas at the farm to crap?

I do agree long leashes should be banned, spawn if the devil


Depends on the situation if our Patterdale is on the lead.
She has no interest in livestock or horses etc.
Recall is good for a terrier as well

Farm dogs often are when in the farm yard, but when they are in the fields they are working, and have been trained in farm etiquette

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[The Dotties]

No problems with dogs at all, except in restaurants! Dogs should NOT be allowed in any food outlet, but definitely not in a restaurant/cafe.

 

[eddie]

No problems with dogs at all, except in restaurants! Dogs should NOT be allowed in any food outlet, but definitely not in a restaurant/cafe.

Why? Do you eat off of the floor?

 

[The Dotties]

Why? Do you eat off of the floor?

I’ve seen on quite a few occasions mummy’ putting her plate on the floor, so that snuffles can lick it clean then start begging from others, with its ass out in the isles to trip people up!

 

[eddie]

I’ve seen on quite a few occasions mummy’ putting her plate on the floor, so that snuffles can lick it clean then start begging from others, with its ass out in the isles to trip people up!

Easy then keep dogs on leads inside

Most country pubs would close if they didn't cater for walkers with their dogs

Hygiene has nothing to do with allowing dogs in areas where food is served just paranoia

Personally I'd ban fat people, people that don't shower regularly, people with bad skin, people who talk with food in their mouth, and people who only order tap water Oh and huge 4 x 4 type carts and people that want to disturb my well behaved dogs laying under the table for 'a pat'

However, live and let live is my moto

 

[Outdoors Dad]

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[PaulyP]

No problems with dogs at all, except in restaurants! Dogs should NOT be allowed in any food outlet, but definitely not in a restaurant/cafe.

Well I regularly use a dog friendly cafe, there is a restaurant nearby which has an area where you can take your dog in whilst eating, also an area where you can eat with no dogs allowed in that area, most pubs allow dogs and also sell food, so your choice of where to eat must be quite small.

 

[Googlebot]

We never use Wetherspoons as they don’t allow dogs in. Bit weird really as they aren’t even allowed outside.

I now just microwave my own cheap and nasty food. :-(

 

[Pusscat]

Was it actually directly outside your door so you couldn't exit without having to step over it or a distance away from it? Without knowing that it's impossible to say if she was being truly thoughtless or whether you just didn't want it placed there as it offended you.

If someone stuck something in MY bin without asking I'd be peed off, if she'd done this would you have been out and complaining about that?

Your bin, your choice.

A. Is wrong, but B isn't, we often do this on walks as we return the same way so collect it then and dispose of it.

Ok..without the measure stick, estimate of 1m outside my front door and yes, in front of the door…and if i want to get picky about it, on the ironwork grid I have leading to the actual front door for goodness sake!! On my property. Not in the road, on my property. As for thoughtless or me just being offended, wouldn’t you be offended by someone putting a bag of dog in front of your door on your property?

“

If someone stuck something in MY bin without asking I'd be peed off, if she'd done this would you have been out and complaining about that?

that is out of context…of course, if I saw someone putting dog poo in my bin I’d question it…you yourself would be complaining about it as you have said…you should be taking it with you. But if for some reason you want to leave it on my property, which I’d rather you didn’t, if there is a big black wheels bin near by then I’d rather you put it in the bin! Perfectly acceptable to put it in your domestic bin, same for street bins, Cornwall even encourage this practice.

yes, my bin, my choice.

A. Is wrong, but B isn't, we often do this on walks as we return the same way so collect it then and dispose of it.

it isn’t acceptable to hang bags of dog poo from the trees. Take the bloody stuff with you! The times I’ve seen it left…not collected on the way back. You may forget, be distracted, start with good intentions. 90% of the time you may diligently pick it out of the hedge but other times, not meaning to, it gets left.

I had investigations where I was looking at faecal contamination of streams leading to bathing waters…the amount of bags of rotting dog poo in hedges along streams and walkways, disgusting. These had been there for weeks.

 

[Minxy]

A friends parents were into Shakespeare and had a Lab called Puck, a typical lab generaly obedient but only when it wanted to be. My friend hated the disproving looks he used to get while walking across the fields shouting PUCK! at the top of his voice.

We had a dog called Pootle ... Poo for short! We had the vet in stitches when we took her for her first load of jabs.

 

[rangi]

Some idiot is sueing a Farmer, because a Cow attacked them, as they were walking their dog, off the lead, thro a field of Cows and their Calves.

When the ex S-i-L had his farm , that Dog would have been shot! and if unaccompanied, it's carcass would have been hung on the gate , by it's tail, as a warning.

He used to have to replace a sign , saying keep your dog on a lead, do not enter a field if it contains Cows And Calves , nearly every month, because of them being vandalised. Some Dog owners like cyclists seem to think Common Sense does not apply to them.

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[Puddleduck]

When we had a dog (many years ago) and lived in a very rural and remote part of coastal Northumberland the dog was always allowed off her lead when we got to the deserted beach but never in the dunes which were part of a nature reserve - which the beach wasn't. The dog ignored the dunes, just wanted to run for miles along the sand and in and out of the sea.

She was a gun dog and often taken out to work by a neighbour, never on a lead at all then but knew as soon as her harness went on she was "on duty" and behaved herself watching for permissions and signals.

She totally ignored sheep, cattle etc and was only interested in birds when in harness. She did not like cats at all though!!

 

[Coastal Cruiser.]

No problems with dogs at all, except in restaurants! Dogs should NOT be allowed in any food outlet, but definitely not in a restaurant/cafe.

We carry our 2 Jacks stuff in a rucksack and as soon as we go in a restaurant their mat comes out goes on the floor and they lay down until we go.
Have a few treats for them to keep them happy.
We have just come back from our local curry restaurant and there was a few kids running around and making a noise!!
I know who I would rather be having my meal with

As with kids and dogs it’s all down to the owners how they are trained to behave …

 

[Maudy]

Off the lead on our own land but on the lead where there may be irresponsible owners not paying attention to their own dogs

 

[Shrimp]

Dogs should be under control no matter how it’s done!
If you are walking in an area where there is good ground cover and wildlife the dog should be on a lead especially if it has a hunting tendency!
Dogs should also be on a lead on paths at the side of the road, I hate to see someone ambling along a road path and the dog is off-lead with traffic whizzing past, it only takes a second to ‘lose’ your precious friend!
Pippa is off lead as soon as feasible but always under control. If she goes too far ahead on a country walk I whistle, she stops and looks back, I raise my arm above my head and she gallops back to me for a treat.
The only downfall Pip has is that she is too friendly, but she seems to sense people that won’t talk to her and gives them a wide berth. She’s not 2yrs old yet and still learning!

 

[Ridgeway]

On a lead isn’t always under control, off a lead isn’t always out of control. All the variables come into play and then add in the biggest of those being the dog owner. I can usually predict what a dog will do as i approach, i find it hard to predict the owners though

As the rain has now arrived I’m off for a dog walk, far less likely to bump into people and can enjoy the outdoors, oh i how i like crappy weather for walking the dogs️

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[Peg Star]

Again this may be controversial and a question to why shouldn’t the wildlife trusts and conservationists have the same rights as farmers who can shoot a dog when it is worrying sheep why not when they are running wild over land where ground nesting birds etc are. All that is being asked is to keep a dog on a lead.

Oooo so does that mean I can shoot the many neighbourhood cats that run free in my (private) garden that terrorise and murder the wildlife that I so love to share my space with?
Oh sorry I forgot, when it’s a domesticated cat killing a drastically declining native song bird, that’s ‘nature’!!

 

[Widge]

Oooo so does that mean I can shoot the many neighbourhood cats that run free in my (private) garden that terrorise and murder the wildlife that I so love to share my space with?
Oh sorry I forgot, when it’s a domesticated cat killing a drastically declining native song bird, that’s ‘nature’!!

Although we have two cats, I actualy agree with some of your comments, I would not choose to have cats or dogs, but cats do have a way of moving in on you. As i mentioned before both our cats were strays, we immediately got them chipped and sterilised (along with half a dozen other strays in our hamlet).

Imo all cats and dogs should be registered and unless there is a genuine reason why you need to breed, sterilised, particularly cats as they are less under control, hybrid interbreading should be stopped. It is not healthy for the animal and is all about status and money neither has any concern for the animal.
Unless you have a genuine reason for a guard dog (which of course should be professionaly trained) it should be illegal to own known aggressive dogs, a friend was badly bitten by a cain corso a few years ago, not the dogs fault, it had just had puppies and the stupid owners wife invited her to go and see the puppies, the bitch not recognising our friend, casualy got up and wandered over to her, jumped up and bit her badly on the face.

However friendly a dog appears, their instinct is to protect and however friendly they appear in a family group, if they feel threatened, they will react accordingly, some breeds more than others.

 

[seasideBill]

I had investigations where I was looking at faecal contamination of streams leading to bathing waters…the amount of bags of rotting dog poo in hedges along streams and walkways, disgusting. These had been there for weeks.

13 million dogs needing to poo, makes you wonder how much of it is disposed of responsibly? Always a big spike on footpaths here during holiday season and anything ‘dog enabled’ covered in sand or grass is a no go zone, especially for the grand kids!

 

[3alpacas]

As someone sometimes at the sharp end of the stick on this issue over the last 35 years (!) it is really, really challenging! The wide variety of views being expressed so far give an indication of how difficult it is for nature reserve managers to find the right 'balance' in approach especially as there is such a wide range of opinions, and everyone is rightly entitled to them.

For instance, what does 'under (close) control' actually mean? If we use 'voice command' as a measure, then there are some people who can 'control' their dog if it is 100metres away or more in a grassland and maybe 50 in a woodland and others who cannot within 10 metres - but how does the 'warden' (or other folks on-site) know that when they come across a dog away from its owner? So there's a 'courtesy' issue there. But there's also the (more important, in a nature reserve) issue of disturbance to sensitive wildlife (which is not just in the bird breeding season, of course, but also the late autumn seal breeding season and over-winter for many estuarine shore-birds) - and this is often the more difficult to get 'buy-in' to....sure, there's a worry that dogs will chase wildlife but it's more about the (unseen) wildlife that vacates the area (or is prevented from feeding or brooding) once it realises that a dog is there.....increasingly the trusts and others have done lots of research on these aspects in recent years.....put these two together and this is where the request for 'dogs on leads' comes in.....it creates a 'transparent/obvious' level playing field that in turns protects the reason for the nature reserve.

And there is now a really challenging issue that many nature reserves are simply becoming convenient dog-toilets (I know that because I see it daily on some sites) and it can cost a lot of money to have dog poo properly disposed of - I don't have to hand the numbers of how many poo bags are collected on a daily/weekly basis on some reserves - and this then is time and money that we don't get to spend on making the nature reserves better places for wildlife (discussion of wildlife decline is for another time/place) and better places for people to enjoy.

I just thought I'd give some thoughts on this that lies behind the Wildlife Trusts' press release (though I don't work for the 'national office'). The trusts want folks to enjoy the nature reserves; the request is that folks also respect the reason for the nature reserve being there. I hope that's ok!

 

[bilM]

Dogs should NOT be allowed in any food outlet, but definitely not in a restaurant/cafe.

This cafe is not for you then I go to it quite a lot I think its very good untill the dog heaters come in and start to TUT TUT
https://www.thecoffeelab.cafe/

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[seasideBill]

This cafe is not for you then I go to it quite a lot I think its very good untill the dog heaters come in and start to TUT TUT
https://www.thecoffeelab.cafe/

‘Dog haters’ is a bit strong. Depends on whether they sit quietly under the table (as many do) or bark at everything that moves, jump up, dribble over or hump your leg and try to start a fight with other dogs. Sadly too many owners don’t care or have insufficient control. Personally I’d avoid the place as it’s credentials are obvious, but I might be tempted by those ‘Real Crisps’ - my favourites

 

[Reallyretired]

A sensible sign at Butchers Hole car park Friston forest.
We all know many dogs, usually little yappy one on long leads are definitely not under control.
A dog out of sight can only respond to recall if they can hear you.
The sign should be unnecessary as it's pretty obvious, but some people need the obvious pointing out.

 

[busby]

The wild life trusts believe it’s an issue, and whilst there may be responsible owners we know there are irresponsible ones out there as well.




Why make it worse if someone has a dog that disrupts wild life and they know it has a negative impact

Think it's time badgers,fox's deer wild boar etc were put on leads,they all do more damage than dogs..BUSBY.

 

[Minxy]

Think it's time badgers,fox's deer wild boar etc were put on leads,they all do more damage than dogs..BUSBY.

Okay I'll stick the lead on AFTER you've grabbed them ... should be fun watching you have a 'fight' to get hold of them!

 

[Tonks]

Depends on the where and what’s around, certainly not near livestock such as sheep etc. Some places around here mark out protected areas to protect wildlife such as ground nesting birds etc.

Near me there’s a wind farm with several footpaths. Despite signs at all entrances saying dogs must be kept on leads due to ground nesting birds people frequently ignore them and off lead dogs are regularly running loose there.

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