Seeing Doberluv's Idaho, I can see where the disputes come in. If I lived there, there's no way my dogs would stay onleash either. But I bet you still have problems with jerks letting vicious dogs run loose. I live in a densely populated state where even dog-friendly parks have leash laws, and I obey them religiously. In my experience, every single person who breaks the leash laws in NJ has an untrained, badly-behaved-and-bordering-on-aggressive dog, usually either a Lab/Golden or a breed like the Rottweiler. I don't honestly see anything to support the idea that it's the few who spoil it for the majority who have good dogs with great recall. I love my dog and she has pretty good recall, but I think that's pretty much a minor couple of points in my situation. In all the parks I frequent, I'm not the only one there - there are elderly people, children, hikers, cyclists, and probably people who fear dogs. Even if I had a dog with perfect recall, do I really have the right to dominate a public space with what is, after all, a fairly large predator running at large?
could i get something clarified? Ive noticed a lot of people talking about the possibility of a dog getting scared of something...i dont understand how this is an issue. When Oakley is scared, he usually runs to me, and glues himself to my leg
It depends on the dog's personality, it's age, and what scared it, of course. I think my dog would react NOW to something scary by coming to me, but when she was younger, she was 110% skittery - spook her, and she'd just take off. Into traffic, into orbit, whatever. It took her maturing to calm down a bit and think before she acted. And even a mature, calm dog who looks to their owner for safety will run from the owner in an extreme situation. When Hen was mauled a couple of years ago, her first reaction when she finally got loose was to run like hell, not look around for me.