01/12/2025
"๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐ค๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐"
I saw a post this morning from a non-dog related FB account I follow. They were complaining about the behaviour of off-lead dogs and saying ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ dogs should be on lead in public at ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ times. And there were hundreds (and hundreds!) of comments agreeing.
Why do people feel that way? Because they've had poor experiences with off lead dogs...
โข Dogs who invade the space of other dogs
โข Dogs who jump up on people
โข Dogs who can't be recalled
โข Dogs who chase/lunge/bark at cyclists, joggers or horses
โข Dogs who chase livestock and wildlife
In short, dogs who have been given more freedom than they have the skills to handle.
Off lead freedom adds so much to a dog's life*. It allows them to be a dog. But freedom brings with it responsibilities....for us.
It's ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ job to teach our dogs how to be off lead safely & responsibly. To teach them how to deal with temptations & distractions, to build a reliable recall and, perhaps most importantly, to recognise when they're ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ and make the responsible choice to keep them on lead.
Off lead freedom is a gift our dogs deserve.
But not at the expense of others.
*๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ, ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด.