Dogs off leash

This is one of my biggest pet peeves--in fact, pet peeve doesn't begin to cover it. I saw two dogs on two separate occasions get hit by cars today because their owners had them off leash walking on the sidewalk along busy streets.

One was killed immediately and the other was badly injured.

I don't understand why people take this risk with their dogs. Mine are never off leash where they could wander into the street and be hit. And yet, I see this more and more. And I live in a HUGE urban area where virtually ALL the streets are busy.

And freaking Brad Pattison encourages people to believe that they can train their dogs to walk safely off leash.

Personally, I don't believe that any dog can be safely trained to walk off leash by a road. You just can't predict what might spook them or cause them to veer onto the road.

I JUST saw two dogs walking by the street over the weekend-both on busy streets here in downtown Vegas. It freaks me out, just like when idiots put their dogs in the back of trucks. It's stupid, and unnecessary. Can you imagine being the one to hit a poor dog because the owner was a complete moron?

Saira wrote:I JUST saw two dogs walking by the street over the weekend-both on busy streets here in downtown Vegas. It freaks me out, just like when idiots put their dogs in the back of trucks. It's stupid, and unnecessary. Can you imagine being the one to hit a poor dog because the owner was a complete moron?

I can tell you that I probably slam on my brakes at least once a week because of a dog deking into the street. And we get calls--thankfully not recently--from pug owners whose dog has been hit and they can't afford the vet care.

I see an increasingly larger number of dogs off leash on the street. Just drives me crazy.

Don't get me started on the off-leash and back-of-the-truck people. I've been known to lean out the window and ask them if they are trying to kill their dogs. Just get a blank look back. I've seen too many dogs leap out of the back of trucks to go for something interesting. People! The off-leash thing is a problem for more than just getting the dog hit by a car. I cannot count the number of times that I have been walking Penny inside our apartment complex (where the lease clearly states that dogs are to be on-leash at all times) and had an off-leash dog run up to her. And she snaps at them. I try to tell the other dog owner that she has poor eyesight and does not get along well with big dogs, and they invariably say "Oh, but (my dog) is friendly." Yeah, well, Penny isn't always with other dogs, and I really don't like to have her get all worked up over something that is so unnecessary! And when the other dog goes after Miss Kitty, well, that is when I go ballistic. My cat is not a chew toy, dammit! Besides which, even against a mean pit bull, my money is on Miss Kitty.

Someone was mentioning this same thing just today on our local chat board. I live in a suburb, but it has some pretty busy streets going through it, yet people let their dogs wander around off leash. Not to mention the people who post (multiple times) about their dogs who "escaped" from the house, the yard, whatever - I can understand it happening once, but three, four or five times? Don't they (the people, not the dogs) ever learn?



The other thing I really hate are those extension leashed where the dog can quickly run 15 feet away from its owner - that puts it in the middle of the street, and even a large, powerful dog is no match for an SUV, a truck or a bus.



It's infuriating.

Yeah, they're fine off leash/loose on the back of a truck. Perfectly fine. Until the one and only time when they're not and they get KILLED. IDIOTS.

Imon wrote:The other thing I really hate are those extension leashed where the dog can quickly run 15 feet away from its owner - that puts it in the middle of the street, and even a large, powerful dog is no match for an SUV, a truck or a bus.It's infuriating.

Flexi Leads are the devil! I've seen so many dogs and people get badly hurt by them. And they're not meant for close quarters like Petsmart or a busy street. And the angle that you hold them at makes it very easy for the dog to rip it out of your hand. And when that happens, the sound of the flexi-lead clanking along behind the dog spooks it even more. I can't think of a good thing to say about them, if someone came to class with one on, I would let them borrow a regular lead and tell them no more flexi lead or they're outta my class!

And the off-lead dogs I see around here are usually some macho man who is trying to show what...well, I'm not really sure what...but I know that it involves a fragile male ego and the dog usually has a shock collar on. My one experience where the police were called to the store when I got into it with some jerk and his two off-lead pit bulls when they barged in the middle of my class and I told him to put a lead on his two dogs.

My dogs are pretty well-trained, but they are not off lead, just like you said Blanche, too many things can happen. I remember when I was young and driving down a busy street and some kid and his dog were walking, no leash, and the dog ran in front of my car and I hit and killed it. It was horrible, I felt so bad, the kid had to see his dog die in front of him. Why take that chance? A dog's life is more important than a human ego.

I'm not much of a fan of the flexi-leash either, but have used one down in the ravine with my older guys. It's not officially an off leash area, no roads, just trails and it allows the wandering senior pug to sniff and roam without being in contravention of the law.

But I never use them with (1) young fast dogs or (2) on any dog on the street or in close quarters. I've had some bad "burns" from flexi-leashes that got run across my legs by other people's dogs. If I need a longer leash for the younger dogs I mostly use a long line or drag line--but again, not in close quarters or where anyone could get tangled.

I see this all the time and I just don't get it. A friend of my husband's does this and drives me nuts. I feel terrible for the dog, he's constantly nagging and yelling at this poor dog to stay with him, put him on a leash so you can both just relax!

I let my dogs off leash when we're on hiking trails or in parks far, far away from roads. I probably could let them off leash pretty much anywhere, but why? I'm not perfect 100% of the time, and it would be awful if the one time one of my dogs made a mistake it cost them their life.

Kind of along the same premess, my neighbors had a young under one German shepard who has a invisible fence, they took the collar off for a second, the dog ran into the road and got killed, this was the same week as Ruperts passing, they went out and got another one right away, the other night I am driving home and who is in the road again......GRRRRRR. This is there third since they moved in, the second was to replace their original one who passed of old age....sorry got a bit off subject but it burned me up.



I would never ever trust a dog off leash, you just never know.

Last night Penny and I are sitting in the Big Chair, snoozing (her) and eating ice cream (me), and WW3 erupts on the porch. Sure enough, an off-leash Golden Retriever is barking like crazy through the porch fence at Miss Kitty, who is backed up to the patio door, doing a bobby-pin imitation and hissing and spitting. And, yes, you guessed it, the moron owner says "But she (the dog) only wants to play." And, worse yet, the dog had a leash on, but nobody at the other end. As Kellie is tearing into him, he had the gall to say "But she has a leash on." Yeah, and my cat is not a chew toy!!!!!! Miss Kitty was very freaked out, and both Kellie and I were 4+ pissed. We're each going to complain to the management and hope that something happens this time. Even though it is a gated community and has a posted 5 mph speed limit, some idiots go tearing through. The poor dog could still end up as road kill. Stupid pet owners really trash my equanimity!

Pugsaunt wrote:Don't get me started on the off-leash and back-of-the-truck people. I've been known to lean out the window and ask them if they are trying to kill their dogs. Just get a blank look back.

Not to mention the a$$holes who leave their dog in a locked car without the window open, or open very little. I've left notes on cars telling THEM to put on a fur coat and sit in the car for awhile and see how they like it. Even in Alaska the days can get warm, and the cars get stifling. I personally know of one pug who died after being left in a car on a sunny day here.

Aussie Witch wrote:Yeah, they're fine off leash/loose on the back of a truck. Perfectly fine. Until the one and only time when they're not and they get KILLED. IDIOTS.

Anchorage now has a law that states a dog must be secured if in the back of a truck. That's a start. I want a law that says they are not allowed in the back of a truck unless in a crate, and the crate is secured and covered.

Pugsaunt wrote: trash my equanimity!

Off topic:
I love this.

On topic:
And I agree. Off leash is only appropriate in a fenced in yard or a dog park, but that's just my opinion. I've had numerous experiences with dogs in the street, idiots with pits with shock collars, two separate attacks by a neighbor's Dalmatian (poor Calvin got beaten up badly--multiple punctures and lacerations and a BROKEN tail--happened within the first two months of him being with us)....so I am very, very against it.

We just came back from vacation at a huge campground. The number of people there that would let their pets off-leash was astonishing (especially since it's against the rules). There was one guy who had 4 little dogs that he walked all at once on leash, but would drop the leashes and just let them run around with their leashes dragging behind them. WTH?



As for the flexi-leash, I guess you mean the retractable leashes? That's what I use. It's the only leash I will use. I use kind with the "tape" not the "string". I have a lot more control with this type of leash than I do with a regular leash. I walk 2 pugs with them, I run with FJ on one of them and I wouldn't go back to the other type. Of course, I don't think I'm an idiot, unlike many dog owners out there.



And off topic, but sort of related: At the campground, I was completely annoyed by the amount of people who do not pick up their dog's poop. Is it fun? Is it exciting? NO, but it's necessary. There was a daily reminder in the newsletter to pick up poop, but there was tons of it lying around. I got sick of dodging other dogs' crap piles while trying to potty my own boys. And when someone is obviously trying to get their dog to potty, don't be dragging some other dog (or worse, kid) over to 'pet the puppies'.

I swear the off-leash dog thing has become "trendy" somehow. I see these idiots at the park all the time, and it's like they fancy themselves super-trainers or Cesar Freakin' Milan's long-lost brother or something. "Look at ME, MY dog doesn't need a leash because I'm AWESOME!" Wonder how awesome they feel when their dog gets broadsided by a car after chasing a squirrel into the street.



Marlee is on leash with me at all times. Period. At work, the only time she's off-leash is in my office, or in the enclosed play yard when we take potty breaks. We're all good about leashes here, though -- staff members with an office can usually bring dog(s) to work, and more than a few employees have dogs with "issues."

SacramentoPugs wrote:I swear the off-leash dog thing has become "trendy" somehow. I see these idiots at the park all the time, and it's like they fancy themselves super-trainers or Cesar Freakin' Milan's long-lost brother or something. "Look at ME, MY dog doesn't need a leash because I'm AWESOME!" Wonder how awesome they feel when their dog gets broadsided by a car after chasing a squirrel into the street.



Marlee is on leash with me at all times. Period. At work, the only time she's off-leash is in my office, or in the enclosed play yard when we take potty breaks. We're all good about leashes here, though -- staff members with an office can usually bring dog(s) to work, and more than a few employees have dogs with "issues."

You know, you may be onto something. It's like an ego thing, to prove how well trained their dog is.

Christy, we run into a lot of unleashed dogs on hikes here and around the campgrounds, even though the rules there always state they must be on a leash. It's annoying! I don't want your dog running up to mine, period. It's amazing how many people don't get that.

Saira wrote:

SacramentoPugs wrote:I swear the off-leash dog thing has become "trendy" somehow. I see these idiots at the park all the time, and it's like they fancy themselves super-trainers or Cesar Freakin' Milan's long-lost brother or something. "Look at ME, MY dog doesn't need a leash because I'm AWESOME!" Wonder how awesome they feel when their dog gets broadsided by a car after chasing a squirrel into the street.



Marlee is on leash with me at all times. Period. At work, the only time she's off-leash is in my office, or in the enclosed play yard when we take potty breaks. We're all good about leashes here, though -- staff members with an office can usually bring dog(s) to work, and more than a few employees have dogs with "issues."

You know, you may be onto something. It's like an ego thing, to prove how well trained their dog is.

Christy, we run into a lot of unleashed dogs on hikes here and around the campgrounds, even though the rules there always state they must be on a leash. It's annoying! I don't want your dog running up to mine, period. It's amazing how many people don't get that.

It does seem to be an ego thing. It is usually men (who spend all their time yelling and making hissing sounds at the dog which seems to make the owner look moronic instead of impressive) and they seem to totally be the "legend in their own mind" kind of folk. One guy went back and forth, yelling at his wife and then yelling and hissing at his dog. I wish he could've seen a video of himself.

And I'm surprised at the pent up irritation still in me from the Petsmart days. Christy, I wish you could show people what a flexi-lead is for. So many people are just careless with them, the most horrible thing I saw was at Petsmart when this lady was checking out and didn't have the flexi lead locked and she wasn't paying any attention and her dog ran over to the next cash register and burned the legs of the little girl standing in line behind her. The girl started screaming and the the lady acted like it was nothing, didn't apologize or anything!

And several dogs got bit when again, the owner wouldn't pay attention, and the dog would wander over to the next aisle and come face to face with another dog who didn't appreciate having a random dog in their face. I could never go back to working retail again and dealing with the public.

There's a lot of people that are afraid of having dogs off leash at all. It's unfortunate, but i can't fault people for wanting to be safe. It's all about being smart and safe with your off leash decisions.

For instance...
Izzie runs from my back door to my car when we're leaving, she knows what my car looks like and sits next to it. But i don't do that at work or even at the agility field because i don't know what cars might sneak up.
We walk ON LEASH to a not officially off leash park and when we get very far away from the road she gets to go off lead because she's trained to stay near, and if she's off playing she knows how to stop and wait just in case.

The one thing i HATE about the popularity of the off leash fad is people like BP who will purposely put dogs in dangerous situations just to "prove" their training, then challenge those of us who don't train like they do to prove their dogs too but we're far too smart for that.

Then there's yahoos like this guy who put their off leash dog in a parking lot to show it's training on youtube...

MommaJones wrote:. . . And off topic, but sort of related: At the campground, I was completely annoyed by the amount of people who do not pick up their dog's poop. Is it fun? Is it exciting? NO, but it's necessary. There was a daily reminder in the newsletter to pick up poop, but there was tons of it lying around. I got sick of dodging other dogs' crap piles while trying to potty my own boys. And when someone is obviously trying to get their dog to potty, don't be dragging some other dog (or worse, kid) over to 'pet the puppies'.

I think you are on to something here. The moron with the off-leash Golden also leaves enormous piles of Golden-Retriever-on-bad-food dump in the courtyard. There is a correlation between off-leash and left-behind poop.

[quote="pugasaurus"]

Saira wrote:

SacramentoPugs wrote:I swear the off-leash dog thing has become "trendy" somehow. I see these idiots at the park all the time, and it's like they fancy themselves super-trainers or Cesar Freakin' Milan's long-lost brother or something. "Look at ME, MY dog doesn't need a leash because I'm AWESOME!" Wonder how awesome they feel when their dog gets broadsided by a car after chasing a squirrel into the street.

It does seem to be an ego thing. It is usually men (who spend all their time yelling and making hissing sounds at the dog which seems to make the owner look moronic instead of impressive) and they seem to totally be the "legend in their own mind" kind of folk. One guy went back and forth, yelling at his wife and then yelling and hissing at his dog. I wish he could've seen a video of himself. . . .

OMG, I can relate. We have a neighbor (who is moving out, thank all the Buddhas) who has a GSD that he got from the pound. Had it genetic tested to be sure it is a GSD (and it is). He does the Cesar Halfwit Milan thing all the time and punishes the dog for no reason at all - rolls him on his back or grabs his muzzle and yells at him. And then he lets the dog out late at night and the dog just runs around the courtyard. Usually when Penny and I are on our last walkie of the night.



Yup, trashed equanimity. Again.

You know, I experienced this last night for the first time.

I took two of the pugs on a walk with my friend and her two dogs and her daughter. The daughter (grown), was walking their big black lab with us. She was letting him walk off leash, but kept yelling at him to stay by her. He could not enjoy the walk because he kept getting yelled at, and what the hell? How could she be having any fun, because she was busy yelling at him? I kept telling her to just put him back on leash. Then they said to me that if other dogs weren't around, he would do just fine without a leash. I said that it only takes a second for something to happen and keeping him on leash was safer! Eventually she put him back on the leash.

And, their other dog is a little chi mix. Adorable little dog, but he's a chi, so what do you expect? They had him on one of those flexi-leads. He would get some lead and run ahead, then get yanked back and yelled at "because they aren't letting the dog walk them". Ugh, it was so sad. I kept telling her to quit yanking him and not give him space on the lead and then pull it back. He was just super excited.

Meanwhile, my two pugs were trying to take over the world one pee at a time, but they did not pull me too much, enjoyed their walk and I did not yell at them even one time. I let them walk ahead of me, as long as they don't pull and it was just fine.

That made me sad, Renee! You're right, what's the enjoyment in any of that? Ugh.

One of the things I thought was cool at Best Friends is during orientation, they talk to you about walking the dogs. One of the things they stress is to make it enjoyable for the dogs; let the sniff, let them wander, just let them enjoy their time out.

Well I am wayyyyy late to this discussion but my daughter recently had an experience that was traumatizing to her and Macey (granddaughter).



Britt and Macey were in the front yard of their house and they seen a truck coming down the road with a dog in the back. Macey noticed the dog and said "momma, a puppy" and just as Britt turned to look, the dog jumped out of the truck and went directly under the wheel!!!!! Right in front of Macey! Even worse, the driver didn't notice and kept on driving! Brittany started screaming at the driver and ran to the road. The dog was still alive. The driver eventually turned around and Britt was screaming at him what a moron he is!! Britt said "lets take the dog to the vet." The driver scooped the dog up, put him in the back of the truck (!!!) and said "he will be fine" and left!!!!



For the last week Macey keeps telling me the "broken puppy got runned over" during every phone conversation. Errrr!!!!

juneau hunter wrote:
For the last week Macey keeps telling me the "broken puppy got runned over" during every phone conversation. Errrr!!!!

That is so sad. Poor Macey. I cannot believe that asshole owner!