Do you walk your dog on a leash?

I always keep mine leashed because his recall is practically zero if he sees anything remotely interesting. He's on a long line in open areas and short line in public. Having a dog off-leash is in any case illegal in my country unless it's in a fenced-in dog park or the owners are out hunting with the dog.

I just hate it when I see other dogs off-leash especially if there is no owner next to the dog, simply because I never know what kind of temperament or recall those dogs have. It makes me feel very uncomfortable, partly because I'm still afraid of unknown dogs due to some bad dog experiences when I was younger.

Well we live on almost and acre and its fully fenced. The dogs get to spend most of the day running all over it with the kids, playing fetch(well Molly anyway. The pekes think fetch is stupid) and other activities.

Nope. Almost all open areas around here require leashes. There are some places in the country where it's not required, but they are always crowded with other people and dogs. Voodoo will ignore another dog and come if I call, but I won't risk it.

From what I understand, Diz, Europe in general is a lot more dog-friendly than the States. Here, unless you're on private property or a dog park, you're almost always required to have your dog on leash.

I just figured that the SIZE of the US, there is LOTS of open unihabited space... why not just drive out and walk there where there is noone about?

If I can find some on this tiny island, I am sure you can find some over there!

Wow that must be really hard, I don't think me or Casey would cope! I love to explore with her and see her running free.

NEVER - and I hate flexi I use aspen double handle 6 ft or 4ft leashes.
I have one horse lunge line retracable for camping.
Ties out for Indoors in camping trips.

And 50 acres for unleashed fun.

I take mine to a dog park that is fenced in.

Victor and i have been doing off leash heeling since spring. We had three years working up to this and i would not advise it for anyone that is not a trainer. Today he is learning to carry his trick or treat bucket while he walks. In prep for his nursing home visit the end of this month and the pets for life therapy dog halloween party.

Diz, much of the wide open space in America is private property - it's either used for large-scale agriculture, or livestock, etc.

Much of our wide open space is enclosed in barbed wire fencing, with territorial guard dogs and farmers with shotguns keeping people out.

At least, such is the case around here in the midwest!

ETA: Mine get offleash time several times a week. Ronin is only safe in leashed areas such as the dog park, when there are no other dogs around... which is often since our dog park is private. Ilsa can go anywhere secluded and be offleash, but she wears an e-collar as a safety precaution (our deer population is such that it's rare to go out at certain times of the day without seeing a few deer... and Ilsa is a deer chaser.)

Always on. We got to a designated off-leash exercise area for off-leash time. Other than that, it is on leash. It is the law where I live, I have hounds and while I've spent a lot of time putting good recall on them, their prey drive may trump that, and I also just don't approve of dogs being walked off leash in places where it is the law to be on leash and other people may not be expecting an off-leash dog.

So much for the land of the free :yikes:

The land here is crisscrossed with ancient public rights of way - the FARMERS get fined if they are not accessible.

MANY a time I have driven about, seen a public footpath sign (they're all posted) and just pulled over and walked.

You find the most amazing places.

I envy you, Dizzy! I've driven for miles and miles at times, and seen nothing but fenced farmland. I live in the heart of the midwest, where there are more pigs than people... and the only option I have is to take the dogs out to the nature parks. It really sucks.

I do take the boys as ofetn as I can somewhere where I have only ever seen one other dog in all the time I've had them. They are aloud off leash there but anywhere even semi public no.

I live on a decent sized property and the boys visit my friend's cow farm quite a bit which is all fenced in. They love it over there because his house means WOOO HOOO FREEEEDOM!!!!!!

This was more directed to towns and community park walking. Probably should of said that in the original post.

Exactly..I can't imagine having a dog and not being able to have off leash time OTHER than backyard.

To be honest, I'm really shocked at how many people here don't like letting their dog/s off leash for a roamp around in a safe (but not fenced in) area. I mean woods, trails, beachs, ect?

I'm jealous. That's an awesome idea. You won't find public footpaths in the states, that I know of.

And like in Sizzle's area, there's not really a lot of public property just lying around here. It's all ranchland/farming acre. And you wouldn't DARE let your dog run around loose on someone's ranchland....many ranchers shoot the dog on sight, especially if it's a large dog with no owner immediately visible. Feral dogs and coyotes around here do a lot of damage to livestock.

I've found its actually easier to find a place to run with your dog in large cities. People tend to be more "pet-friendly" there, and will have public spaces and parks specifically for dogs. Smaller communities, not so much.

I have to walk mine on leash. HAVE TO.
She is absolutely dog aggressive, hates cats and WILL kill them, and WILL KILL any other furry she sees.

And I absolutely hate when people allow their dogs off leash in my neighborhood.
There is a leash law for a reason.
Maybe in other countries people have better control over their dogs and/or are maybe a bit more responsible in off leash dog situations, but over in my neck of the U.S. people think, "Oh, he's friendly, don't worry!" is an apologetic excuse for their dog charging up to me and mine.
What if MY dog ISN'T friendly??

And according to dog or human is their dog friendly?
Because, see, MY dog, I can promise anyone, thinks that a dog charging up to her or lunging at her, barking at her, growling at her, is cause to fight.
Sometimes I think that humans forget that dogs don't communicate like we do.
At least the humans in MY neck of the woods forget.

Rights of way and access
Public access to the countryside falls into two main categories:

public rights of way
open access land
Both present certain rights and responsibilities on the land owner or occupier.
Farmers and land managers can also take additional steps to create public access land.

Public rights of way
Rights of way are minor public highways. They include footpaths (where the right of way is on foot only), bridleways (for pedestrians, horse riders and bicyclists), byways open to all traffic (BOATs), and restricted byways (all traffic except motorised vehicles).

Responsibility for rights of way which cross private land is shared by the land owner or land manager and the highway authority.

Highway authorities are under a duty to maintain those highways that are maintainable at public expense; nearly all public rights of way are maintainable at public expense.

As the landowner you are required to remove any obstructions, such as a locked gates, which restrict the public's access to a way. You are also responsible for maintaining any stile, gate or similar structure across footpaths and bridleway in a safe condition.

Highway authorities may secure the removal of any obstruction by serving notice on the person responsible and may arrange for the removal of the obstruction at that person’s expense.

Full details of the responsibilities for maintaining rights of way are detailed in the Rights of Way Act (1990) for England and Wales, which includes:

a statutory right to plough footpaths and bridleways that pass through fields and which are not field edge paths. However, you must make good the surface within 14 days of the first disturbance. The local highway authority has the power to authorise an extension of up to 28 days for further works
to ensure that in making good the surface that a footpath has a minimum width of 1 metre and a bridleway has a minimum width of 2 metres
The Wildlife and Countryside Act, enforced by the highway authority, makes it an offence, subject to important exceptions, for the occupier of a field crossed by a right of way to cause or allow a bull to be at large in it. The exceptions are:

bulls not more than ten months old; and
bulls which are not of a recognised dairy breed and which are at large with cows or heifers
Any bull over ten months old is prohibited on its own, and any such bull which is of a recognised dairy breed is prohibited even if accompanied by cows and heifers.

[Dairy breeds are Ayrshire, British Friesian, British Holstein, Dairy Shorthorn, Guernsey, Jersey, and Kerry.]

In general anyone taking a dog on a right of way is responsible for keeping it under proper control. If a dog is allowed to run around off the path, trespass is committed against the holder of the land.

There is no rule requiring a dog to be kept on a lead on a right of way but it is an offence to allow a dog to be at large in a field or enclosure in which there are sheep (Dogs (Protection of Livestock ) Act 1953). It is also an offence to allow a dog to attack or chase livestock.

Occupiers belonging to the Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme must maintain existing rights of way and abide by the relevant legislation.

If you have applied to the ELS scheme you should refer to section 5.3 of the ELS handbook for details of the scheme requirements.

Further guidance for land managers, and for the general public, is provided by the Countryside Agency. Of particular relevance to farmers and land managers are the Signs on access land in England - land managers and Managing Public Access.

Open access land
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) introduced new rights for people to walk on areas of open country and registered common land.

People can usually walk on areas of mountain, moor, heath, down and common land throughout England, subject to common sense restrictions.

If you are an owner or tenant of access land you can restrict access to 28 days each calendar year for land management purposes.

You can also apply for further restrictions on the basis of land management, fire prevention or public safety. Details are available at the Open Access website for land managers.

The legislation regarding restrictions is outlined in full in the Access to the Countryside (Exclusions and Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2003.


http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/environment/rights-of-way/index.htm

Around here we go on trails in winter after it FREEZES... really freezes. Too many ticks to do it otherwise. There are several 'nests' I know of just off the trails. If you go through those areas you come up with 20 or so ticks. I'm not taking the chance with his black fur. He's already had lyme, he doesn't need it again.

My neighbors have offered for me to use their yard... they have a couple acres fenced in an odd shape, so there's quite a bit to run on. He can't run on and on for miles, but it's good enough.

That, and the trails around here ALL go through private properties, some near houses.. very near. A lot of the new people moving out here from the cities have the attitude of "it's MY land now, stay the hell off" and have put up no trespassing signs... so it's kind of a go on them if you dare sort of thing, and I'm not comfortable trespassing on someone else's property--I would not want them to return the favor, after all. Most of the open areas are fenced with or without livestock or for crops....

I always walk mine on leash. Even though they all have great recall, I want to be certain that they are with me at ALL time during our walk. It's for their own safety as they're so small, and the world is so big, and also for my peace of mine. I refuse to take any chance that they may not come back with me from the walk for whatever reasons that could have been prevented by the leash.

Almost always on leash, yes. But, obviously not in the dog park, or the off-leash beach we take her to. There is also a huge field near where we live that lots of people let their dogs off leash. Also, of course, when she's swimming.