Don't judge owners who keep their dogs on leads when on the park General Chat

Not all dogs are dog friendly so have to stay on their leads.
Some dogs have cataracts so for safety reasons have to stay on their leads
A lot of dogs that reach 18-24 months trend to go deaf when off lead, so they have to stay on their leads, until they are recall trained again.
Many scent dogs may bolt as soon as they pick up on a scent, so they have to stay on their leads.
Same goes for sight dogs they too may bolt when they see prey, so they have to stay on their leads.

Why do many non dog owners think its cruel leaving a dog on their leads when on the park, simple the answer is in the question they are NON DOG OWNERS they never owned a dog in their adult life, so don't know that its sometimes safer to keep your dog on a long training lead or the dreaded flexi lead, trying to explain to them is useless as they don't want to or won't understand what your saying, they seem to know best & one does have to smile & have a quiet laugh to oneself when they suddenly say " I am going to report you to the RSPCA for being cruel" yes I was actually accused of being cruel because I had kept Dottie on her training lead, while I had let K9 & Zeus off their leads, the fact that Dottie would attack any other dog she see's (well attempt to she is muzzled) this person was wearing blinkers & failed to see Dottie was wearing a lovely pink muzzle & harness saying "NO DOGS" (other dog owners see's harness/muzzle then go in other direction) so after he said he was going to report me I told him in a calm voice that there is a dog warden over near the bowling green & I will go with him.

Oh yes seeing the fools face after the dog warden told the gentleman to get a life (not in them words) was priceless & I was highly praised by the dog warden for being a responsible dog owner.

My Evil one Dottie




Ok Dottie is a real cutie & not that Evil

Where I live in Hungary there are no parks specifically for dogs, not even in the nearest city. Whilst there are plenty of parks they're usually near busy roads or in the town or city centre where although both Georgina and Gwylim have good recall, I wouldn't dream of letting either of them off their leads.

I don't consider I'm being cruel because at home they have a quarter of an acre of enclosed garden to play and run freely in. And keeping them on their leads when we are out, to me, is part of their training and learning to cope with situations they're unlikely to encounter in the village where we live.

I`ve never come across a "none dog owner" who thinks that, in my experience its usually none dog owners who think ALL dogs should be on leads and not loose in parks !

You'd find a totally different attitude if you lived in Hungary .. LOL! Out of 20 dogs, the two G's are the only ones in the village who wear a collar and are walked on a lead. Whenever I've taken Georgina to the vet there will always be at least two unleashed dogs in the waiting room, very often large ones.

Last summer, one of my neighbours caused much hilarity in the village by deciding to train his ancient pooch to walk on a lead .... except ... the "collar and lead" consisted of a piece of twine tied round the dog's neck. The poor bewildered dog who's on his last legs anyway, hadn't a clue what he was supposed to do .. and neither did his owner.Luckily for the dog, but to the disappointment of the rest of the village, he gave up training after about a week!

Is this a dog park or do you mean a regular park. I've never really heard a non dog owner say that a dog shouldn't be on a leash. Maybe some humaniac wacko might think that.

I've heard all types of other "cruelty" from people who have no clue.
It's cruel to chain / tether
it's cruel to crate / kennel
it's cruel to weight pull
it's cruel to muzzle
Had people call exercising cruel
Cruel & wrong to protection train
Cruel to neuter, cruel not to neuter

You can't please everyone and it doesn't matter. All you can do is the best for your dog.

It'll be an ordinary park where there are kids and picnics etc as we don't have dog parks. I agree with Jackie it's usually the opposite, people seem to think dogs should spend their lives on a lead.

Have to admit ive never had any trouble with the general public wither mine are on/off lead when I see someone approach with a dog on or off lead I bring mine to heel put Heiko on lead as he can be funny with strange dogs, this day we were on narrow path when off lead staffie was approaching I called mine to me and stood back, the owners went nuts calling me all the names under the sun and that I was breedist’ because I had Heiko on lead, I tried to explain but she was having none of it.

Its sort of a dog park (the dogs have big uncut grass area, the kids have the neatly cut grass area) this adult was walking through the uncut grass (taking a short cut to Lldi) when I was in there with my 3 dogs he was getting very irate as I was trying to explain to him, that Dottie as to stay on her lead & that she hates other dogs, but he was having none of it.

My Bunny is leashed and muzzled for the safety of other dogs and small children. I'd be an idiot to let her off. She enjoys her leashed walks and if someone called it cruel, they'd get some choice words and an explanation that not all dogs are suitable to be allowed off the leash.











Are you SURE you want me to let her off?

Her moodiness can be astonishing and come from no where. Nigredo and my previous male Brownie are/were used to it and nothing serious happens, but there's no point in letting her snap on some random dog.

She HATES to be mounted, squared up to, or sniffed "under there" and will often snap/snark for no apparent reason even on nose to nose greetings. She's not always like this, but better safe than sorry.



Relaxing in my lap in the back seat of a car after a nice park visit. No harm, no foul. Never will I apologize for trying to be responsible.

Where I live in the U.S. there is a leash law requiring you to have your dog on a lead unless you take it to the dog park. The problem we get are those who don't have their dogs on a leash and allow them to come bounding up to dogs, insisting "they will be fine" without any regard for whether my dogs will be OK with it. My female dog was attacked and bitten on the neck by a dog running free and all the owner did was shrug and tell me that it would be ok because his dog had his rabies shots (another requirement). Needless to say, he paid the bill for her visit to the vet to get two puncture wounds taken care of!