Do you walk your dog, or is it too unsafe because of loose or uncontrolled other dogs?
I asked dog owners and dog professionals that question. Their answers varied. Many dog owners agreed that walking their dogs had become too unsafe and too unsettling. Some have stopped walking their dogs in their own neighborhoods. Some have moved to safer spaces; some have found safer alternatives.
Elizabeth Brush (Washington) I’d love to walk my dogs. However, it would seem the rest of the populace hasn’t heard of the leash laws, so mine stay in their own domain—but even then, I am out there with them.
Carly Rostance (United Kingdom) My dog doesn’t get walked as often as I think she needs due to my anxiety about meeting loose dogs, which in turn knocks her confidence. Vicious circle.
September B. Morn (Washington) I moved away from a town I loved because of loose dogs and irresponsible owners. Much safer here now in the woods, where the coyotes, bears, and cougars have better manners and better sense than those loose town dogs and their . . . owners.
Jessica Stinson Hudson (Alabama) Fortunately, we have acreage so we get to do lots of stuff off-leash on our property. If I lived in any of the neighborhoods around here that I service, I’d never walk my dogs based on what I see regularly.
Summer Storm Kingery (North Carolina) I do walk my dogs, but have experienced multiple attacks while on walks. Over half those attacks involved dogs on shock collars, and other half were dogs on flexi-leads.
If you don’t have access to a safe off-leash area, what can you do instead?
Misty Mills (Texas) I do not walk my dogs because I have never been on a walk by myself in my neighborhood when I wasn’t faced with an off-leash unattended dog. I don’t feel comfortable or safe in that situation. I can only imagine the kind of stress that would cause in my dogs. I do believe in exercise and enrichment. My garage has been fully converted into a doggy gym. We play tug, fetch, hide and seek. We have a safe place to swim, and a few quiet parks where we can usually walk in peace. We believe in sniffing and food puzzles. My dogs live a more enriched life than most, but we don’t do walks.
Christine Hale Vertucci (Illinois) Always walk. We moved from a condo in an elevator building in a densely populated neighborhood, to a townhouse with narrow sidewalks, tons of dogs, and no green space, and finally to a single-family home with a great yard. Even though, with the yard, we could skip the walks, we don’t, because the dogs really enjoy exploring the environment. I learned how to be a good defensive handler in the first two neighborhoods. A head collar was very helpful during that time, and I carried Spray Shield. Now I mainly have to be on the lookout for rabbits (great practice) and skunks. My main complaint these days are the dogs left in their yards to bark at passing dogs. I’ve never felt unsafe in Chicago, but I’ve had Rottweilers for over 12 of the 26 years that I’ve lived here.
Alisha Ardiana (California) I walk my dogs on long leashes in on-leash areas. I avoid anything that could be considered off-leash. If someone approaches us, I am very clear that my dog does not want to say hello. I typically walk only in places where I can anticipate people approaching us, and I do everything I can to avoid people.
Debby McMullen (Pennsylvania) I walk my dogs in one of two cemeteries across the street from my house or in the local very wooded park. I choose which cemetery based on the “calm or not” vibe of the day, as well as the day in question. One cemetery is much more well managed and shuts down off-leash dogs in a heartbeat. The other one, not so much—but it is a rule that dogs must be leashed. It is also a law in the local park, but what I call “seasonals” don’t always abide by the rules. I carry Spray Shield with me for off-leash dogs and I will use it. I also teach my clients how to keep themselves and their dogs safe from off-leash dogs, suggest that they stop walking their dogs in their own neighborhood if it is unsafe, and help them find safer areas to walk their dogs. [A typical encounter would be] me yelling, “Leash your dog” to the person allowing their dog to be rude, having the human swear at me (like I am the one at fault), then having to spray their dog and call animal control. In that instance, once sprayed, the dog backed off and the owner went away, but didn’t leash his dog. He was later cited by animal control.
Anna Abney (South Carolina) I do not walk my dogs near my home due to the quantity of loose dogs. I walk in the area around my office (since I’m a trainer, I can bring my dogs to work) or drive to hiking and biking trails instead. I absolutely do not allow other dogs, loose or otherwise, to make contact with my dogs. [I deter contact from other dogs] by any means necessary. For nonaggressive dogs just moseying up, I toss a handful of treats in their faces and skedaddle while they’re eating them. For dogs coming in hot, I step forward firmly, stomping my feet and extending my arms, and shout at them to, “GO! GET OUT OF HERE!” If the approaching dog is obviously aggressive, I let my Central Asians out to the end of their leashes and stay behind them with my smaller dogs. I also carry a stun gun just in case. Zapping it in the air sends most charging dogs packing.
Trish McMillan (North Carolina) I mostly hike off-leash in remote areas. My favorite hike has a stream to cross at the beginning, so almost no one else uses it. Walking in town, most folks are pretty savvy. My dogs are friendly, but I don’t let them meet new dogs on-leash in case the other dog is not (except wiggly puppies, if I’m with the one who likes puppies). I carry Spray Shield when walking in new areas. Probably should have an air horn for bears around here, but I’m the only one who never ever sees them.
Aya Eintracht (California) I walk my dogs twice a day. The first walk is usually a hike in one of the off-leash areas that we have. The second one is an off-leash walk just for sniffs. The majority of people are responsible dog owners but there is a minority that is not, and that is just the reality of how it is in almost everything we do. From a young age, my dogs are taught to deal with that reality without getting in trouble, pretty much like kids, by my exposing them to everything I can think of without forcing [them] to interact. Walking and exploring the world is a major part of their happiness and quality of life and I would not want to deprive them of that because of the risk involved. In all my 20 years of hiking and walking with my dogs, I had about four incidents, two of them on-leash (other dogs lunged at mine while on-leash).
Beth Fabel (Washington) [I’m] very careful where I walk my dogs on-leash. I have small fluffy dogs and a border collie and we have been charged more times than I can count by dogs who are loose or not adequately contained within their home or yard. I have several friends whose dogs were attacked for walking down the street by dogs escaping from unlatched fences or under garage doors. The only places I will walk my dogs are neighborhoods where I have been multiple times and am pretty knowledgeable about who and what lives there—and even then I travel with a stick. I would rather take my dogs for hikes and runs in places where there aren’t other dogs around.
Photo by Beth Fabel
Jim Mihalek (Minnesota) I walk my dogs regularly, though not as regularly as they would like. I used to walk my border collies at night, after work, in the small town where I lived and worked. At night, I avoided most other dogs, small children, and inattentive adults who were not aware of what their dog was doing on the flexi-lead. Only once did I encounter another loose dog. It was on a dark street and it came at us out of the dark. It was not aggressive, to the extent I could tell. I could hear its owner gruffly calling for it to come back. I stopped and slowly pulled my dogs back toward me (four-foot leashes), bringing the other dog closer to me as well. When I could, I grabbed its collar, yelling at the owner to get over here and get his dog. Fortunately, Libby and Fever were very stable and did not do anything to provoke this other dog. After that night, I always carried citronella spray and a large metal flashlight, even during the day.
Micha Michlewicz (Maryland) I walk them when I (rarely) have the energy. I have a large auto-open push-button umbrella that I’m going to condition my dogs to tolerate popping open, then teach them to stand behind it so I can shield them. I also have bear mace for just-in-case. I’m not going to allow my dogs to be killed or injured, especially since I have an older, small dog.
Stacy Braslau-Schneck (California) I walk mine, but because of my natural inclination and my schedule, it tends to be late at night. We’ve almost never encountered off-leash or flexi-leashed dogs at that hour.
Tim Beau (Oregon) I walk the dogs to the park. I must admit that we don’t stay in the specified off-leash area, but just circumnavigate it. I have two chihuahuas, and they don’t really do very well with the large dogs. (Chiquis did when she was a pup. She would encourage them to chase her, but she turned on a dime. She would tire sooner, though, and then get stomped by huge feet.) Never had any fighting incidents. Lalo is afraid of big dogs, so we just avoid that area. I can generally sense when an approaching dog on the street might cause him to react, so we duck into a driveway or cross the street. Many other dog-walkers do the same for us as well.
Nathalie Mosbach Smith (California) As a former professional group dog-hiker, off-leash dogs were a problem, but education, training, and years of hiking provided me the skills to deal with any situation. I never had to spray an off-leash dog. I did have to yell a few times to either throw the dog off or get the owner to do something (I hate yelling). Emergency turn-arounds, throwing treats, and dropping the leash were my most successful options. As an owner of special-needs dogs—four out of five—I walk/hike them together, but the mix is definitely more challenging than hiking ten client dogs together that are a perfect match. Off-leash dogs are a worry, but not aversive enough for me to not walk my own dogs. I would do anything to ensure my dogs are safe.
Amy Suggars (Ohio) I am a professional dog-walker. I have a core group of six to eight dogs that I walk every business day while their owners are at work. All are individual walks; I don’t do pack walks. There are three irritants that I encounter regularly. The most disconcerting is the loose dog with no owner in sight. I don’t know the temperament of the loose dog, and sometimes the temperament of my client’s dog is not good. That can make for a tense situation. The second irritant is underground fences. Many of the neighborhoods I walk in ban homeowners from installing structural fences. The problem with the underground fence occurs when the dog in the yard comes running, barking and snarling, right up to the fence line. Often I have no warning, so my dog and I are startled. Plus we don’t know if the dog is going to respect the fence boundary. I’ve been known to swear (out of fear, not at the dog) at those moments! The third irritant is the owner who is being walked by her unruly dog who is pulling her over toward me. The owner generally can’t (or won’t) restrain her dog, saying, “He’s friendly! He wants to say hello!” My standard response is, “This dog is NOT friendly and I can’t be responsible for what he does!!” (I say this regardless of the temperament of the dog!) As for my own dogs, they are like the cobbler’s children who have no shoes. I don’t take my own dogs on leashed walks. Instead, I have several areas where I can take them to run and/or swim off-leash (with permission, of course). These are areas where I’m unlikely to encounter other people and dogs. I don’t do dog parks.
Location also counts, as well as cultural differences!
Eric John Sanders (United Kingdom) Always rural walking. The dogs only on-lead when passing livestock. Rural is the default here in the Scottish Highlands. Our home area has the smallest human population in the UK.
Donna Furneaux (Canada) I [walk my dogs in my own neighborhood] all the time. Dogs are required to be on-leash around here and people obey the law. The one exception is a little Yorkie called Sophie and she stays by her owner. Best-behaved Yorkie I’ve seen. He’s done a fabulous job with her. I love my neighborhood. The only time a dog runs loose is when it has escaped. Cats have licenses, too. Very few roaming cats any more . . . though I suspect the local coyotes have helped a lot with that problem.
Dawn Elberson Goehring (Hawaii) I do not walk my dogs in my neighborhood and most clients do not either. This is due to loose dogs, loose cats, and tons of loose chickens. Also lots of chained dogs, which always make me nervous walking by. You never know what you will encounter! There are a few places to walk dogs here, but they are a drive, and my schedule doesn’t allow for that often. So we have a fenced yard and we alternate who goes for car rides. Chickens are everywhere! Even in the “city.” I live in a suburban area. There are about 15 loose chickens on my block. Mongooses and cats get many of the eggs and babies or we would be overrun!
Colette Kase (Mexico) We have, in the past, been unable to walk our dogs due to unruly loose (owned) dogs in the neighborhood. As I live in countries where dogs understand what it means when someone bends down to pick up a rock, often that’s all I need to do—just mime that I’m picking up a rock. I have some very annoying neighbors now who have a great fence and gate, but insist on leaving the gate open so their dogs run into the street and harass us whenever we pass with my own on-lead dog on the way to the park. While [those dogs] are barky, annoying, and nippy, I’m not too worried about a major fracas, but more about those dogs getting hit by a car. Loose dogs can be a problem for other people I know locally. Some carry a length of hosepipe, sticks, or even pepper spray. I do occasionally carry a stick myself when I know there might be problems. I’ve only ever had to bop another dog once and I felt terribly guilty about it. Interestingly, it was with its owner, who simply had no control of it, and the dog I was with would have definitely taken it on in a full-blown fight had I let it get too close. Generally, I’ve found that, if possible, simply turning and walking purposefully away puts most dogs off. I do get rushed by loose owned dogs whenever I walk my dog in unfamiliar neighborhoods, but it’s important to realize that the aim of most of these dogs is to simply drive you away and off their territory. When you show them you are willing to do that, they usually become less aggressive and almost always stop at the boundary of what they consider to be their territory.
In our country’s biggest city, what’s the loose dog situation?
Inna Krasnovsky (New York) I am in New York City, in an apartment. Everyone here walks their dogs like ten times a day.
Q: Do you think dogs and walkers in New York City are better about leashing, being under control, and not approaching unknown dogs . . . maybe because they have to be better, for their own safety?
Inna Krasnovsky Absolutely. There are no loose dogs on the streets. If there is one running loose, people are trying to capture it, bring it to the vet, see if it’s chipped, call all the rescues, shelters, etc. I found one (small white fluffy) a year ago in the park, walked around with it for an hour trying to find the owner, ended up taking it to the vet. Thankfully, the dog was chipped and the owner showed up right away—somehow the dog had gotten out of her apartment. We do have fenced-in dog parks that everyone goes to. Also the city parks have off-leash hours before 9:00 a.m. and after 9:00 p.m. But the dogs tend to stay within the park. It’s very rare to see a dog take off and run out of the park. Regarding approaching unknown dogs, that seems to be the same as everywhere else. People want to socialize their dogs and approach other dogs all the time—something we deal with when working with reactive dogs.
You don’t plan to move but you’d still like to walk your dog—safely?
▪ Train your own dog to walk well on-leash.
▪ Reward your dog for ignoring other dogs.
▪ Practice quick changes of direction.
▪ Learn to use a deterrent effectively.
▪ Accustom your dog to the deterrent.
▪ Find the safest places to walk your dog.
▪ Drive to safe places as often as you can.
▪ Walk when there are fewer dogs outside.
▪ Report infractions to local animal control.
Most important, exhibit the behavior you’d like to see in other dog owners. Be respectful of the safety of others—and thank others for being respectful of you and your dog!
