we was walk are dogs last week on there leads over playing field when young girl riding her bike with her dog ( Rhodesian Ridgeback) was running next to her on lead ! when the dog pulled her towards us & pulling her of her bike ! she let go of the lead in which her dog come over to us lucky dog was friendly and young girl was unhurt ! however it was abit frighting for us all. this time out come was ok !! 2nd was week apart same place are friend in her 40's was walking her Staffordshire bull terrier dog 3years old on lead when very young boy was walking this type of husky very big (GSD size) which when it see them it come running over to them this dog was not on lead even if it had there would have been no way young boy would have been able to hold or control this dog. it attack her dog biting it & knocking her to ground she was that scared she said she was unable to let her dog go. people help her the injury inflicked to her dog was horrible. as she also received bruisng. she is ok now but the injury to her dog have healed but her dog is now mentally scare ! isn't the dog faults its parents for allowing this young children to walk this big breed dogs . that they wouldnt have the strenght to hold & control this dogs if they was to pull !

What a horrible thing to happen to you, your friend and both your dogs.

My friends son (8) often asks to walk my two (working cocker & show cocker) I don't let him because they've nearly had me (and there's quite a bit of me lol) off my feet. 

The law asks that dogs are under control in a public place, clearly unless the child has control and can hold the dog then this is plainly not the case.

Do worry sometimes that junior handlers in the show ring with dogs sometimes as big as they are have control but they in contrast are being trained and are surrounded by dog savey people.

My daughter still isn't allowed to take my dogs out, and she is 16 ;-)

I have never liked children holcing a dogs lead unless there is an adult there to take over if a situation arises.

Mind you, at 10 ears old I used to walk a friends GSD, until the day she pulled me over when she saw her owner who had been away for a couple of weeks :-p

In my opinion - no.

We thought we were going to have problems on SUnday when walking the brood, walked into the park to see a young boy of 8/9 running around with an on lead boxer. Luckily his parents were with him, and the boxer didn't seem in the slightest bit interested in our lot. HAving said that the boys handed over the lead to their Dad and made a beeline for us. Running straight up to the OH who was walking the beastie up ahead of me, they asked if they could stroke him whilst already holding their hands out, now the beastie can be unpredicatable, but he's always on lead and muzzled, so OH told them no, but they could stroke the 2 I was walking. They then proceeded to run straight at me and go to stroke the girls. I did what I always do and told them they should ask first etc, and let me get the girls sat.

They were nice boys, but the parents were paying not a bit of notice to them, and I despair of the number people who i have to educate about approaching dogs, asking before they can stroke them, and then teaching them not to go straight for the head!

I've gone off on a tangent, but back to the original question - if you are unable to physically control the dog, you shouldn't be walking it, regardless of age. There's also the consideration that most children see the good in everything, so would approach other dogs (with theirs), whcih could have repurcussions if the on lead dog is not dog friendly.

T

No I don't think children should walk dogs alone.
When I was a child it was my 'job' to walk the 3 dogs we then had and I was completely irresponsible, looking back I'm amazed something dreadful never happened.

I never put them on leads; I would just cycle on the pavement down to the beach with them all running after me, no consideration was given to other pavement users, then I would go swimming with the golden retriever and leave the other two to their own devices.
The terrier stole pasties from the newsagents and a chicken from someones kitchen and the golden retriever once ran through the village hotels new conservatory while covered in silage and muck.
The BC never put a toe wrong though despite a complete wrong upbringing!

8 year olds are not very responsible.

Definitely not at that age! I think I was about 16 before the neighbours trusted me to walk their dogs for them. Mind you, my poor cocker got squashed by a HUGE lab and a Weim yesterday morning, they just dragged the leads straight out of the hand of the middle aged lady who was walking them for her daughter, and she looked a perfectly healthy sturdy lady, not elderly and infirm. If I hadn't been too busy trying to fish George out from the bottom of the pile I might have mentioned headcollars.....

I agree with the others I would not allow children to be out with dogs on their own. I suppose if the dog was small ie jack russel size the risk of them being pulled over is less but there is then the risk of them letting the dog run around getting up to doggy mischief while the child chats away to their friends oblivious to what its up to. And the bigger the dog the more likehood of things taking a turn for the worse. I had a staffy the other week running circles round me and my one lad who does not take to dogs being aggressive to him,shouted to the children to call their dog several times and ended up telling them I would let my dog loose if they didn't get their dog away from me! they soon grabbed it!!

I believe children should walk dogs UNDER the condition that they are with an appropriate adult who is able to take control without hesitation! the reason for this being that when a child is an adult should they chose to have a dog they will know how to control it in a public place rather than having a 13 stone dog dragging a 8 stone woman round the streets!
As a child I ws attacked by 2 dogs at 2 different times (thankfully it never turned me off them) both times I needed hospital treatment, which left some nasty scars. However I do not think a child should EVER be allowed to walk adog without proper supervision! I wasnt ever allowed to walk the dogs as a child alone, first time I walked a dog alone was when I got my first 2 dogs fromthe pound (as an adult!), a child cannot properly control a dog even a small one!

Under control or not, my answer is no.

No not without adult supervision.

I never allowed mine to walk any of ours except fro my daughter from 10 years old (she was bigger than most 10 year olds by then) at shows for handling/showing.

I think it depends on the dog and age/matureness of the child. Having two big dogs myself I only let my nearly 17 year old son walk one dog at a time, and that's no off lead and only a 20/30 minute around the block. He knows never to greet other dog walkers and to always cross the road. The dog will always be wearing a head collar as well, he is pretty sensible.

My daughter on the other hand is a huge no, even though she has asked so many times. Not only is she nit old enough but she isn't mature or big enough either.

I've seen some kids where I live walking rotties, staffs, ddb's. I always quickly change direction as it's clear they are far to young to be able to control the dog should anything happen.

Do sometimes wonder if it is safe to let men do it with their short term concentration.

> Do sometimes wonder if it is safe to let men do it with their short term concentration

lol I never let my ex take my dogs anywhere,mind you they never wanted to go anyway.

Luckily we can multi-task so it is not really a problem :-)

Luckily we can multi-task so it is not really a problem :-)


In your own time, of course

on a similar note..........
I had some stuff to post so went there on way out for Zumas walk, stopped outside while a dad came out with SMALL child (PO is little) and when they came out dad said to child 'thats a big dog' child looked at Zuma and then said 'can I smoove him'.............I congratulated the dad. When I went in I said 'how old is that little lad' as the post mistress had been chatting to them and got told 'oh thats X's little one, he is just gone 3' :-O Why oh Why can't more people have that much common sense.
Chris
saw a great smilie type face earlier.......a head banging on a wall.........can we have one here please?

> Luckily we can multi-task so it is not really a problem :-)

LOL My ex's idea of multi tasking was walking and scratching his crotch at the same time!!!! Anything else was beyond him lol

In my opinion no, we're just back from Paignton, Bournemouth, WKC and SKC with the caravan.  Whilst walking on all of the show campsites we saw several children walking dogs, some were walking quite powerful dogs, surely accidents waiting to happen.

It isn't even just about the child being able to control the dog they are in charge of but whether they could deal with any situation that might arise, with another dog, person etc.

definatly NOT

the law says that no child under 10 can walk a dog on own (if wrong I apologise) but I wudn't let my child walk my dogs
And with some dogs from my area most dogs cudnt be controlled any way because of lack of training of any sorts 

>the law says that no child under 10 can walk a dog on own

I don't think there's any law that mentions age of walker.

i see kids age aprox 10 walking staffies,we used to have an 8 year old boy come to dog class with his dad,and the boy was walking the male rottie,quite often he would take it ouside for a stroll
no,kids dont have the strength to walk a dog,

I do think it would all depend on the age of the child and their ability to deal with problems. Also the dog they are walking. Being in control of a Chi is very much different to say a Boxer. Again though there are other dogs about and if another dog took a disliking to the dog being walked by a child they would have to deal with the matter.

I'm not sure you can put a blanket across all children walking any dog as a no no.

Also would depend on the area you walk and the people that normally walk there.

> I don't think there's any law that mentions age of walker.

There isn't.... (unless some councils have a local byelaw). This I found out when I queried it with my local dog warden, after seeing a neighbour's very petite (slight, tiny, even) 7-year old girl out walking their large, entire, dog-aggressive Staffy on her own.

hi jeangenie I saw the age thing in an information leaflet when I recieved all my paperwork from the kennel club when I got my puppy.not sure if this is policed.

Where I live there are so many status dogs which are not safe with the adults let alone with the kids

My pup has meet a couple of these dogs some with no leads and the owners say he's fine and you  can tell by body language that they are ready to turn on my pup even when she is showing her belly

the last time an owner with sbts asked if I had cracked my  puppy's skull I can't repeat what I said (owner looked about 18/20 yrs old )
I still think of them sbts what a life they must have poor things

Humans can be so cruel

Nessa

The KC  advice is that "Children have to be 10 years old or over to be legally responsible for a dog outside their homes." Up until that age their parents and/or the dog's owner is legally responsible for the dog and its actions, even if they're not there. It doesn't mean that it's illegal for the child to be walking the dog.

The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10.

I think I read somewhere that Scotland is currently still 8 but due to be raised to 12?

I wonder if the current question "should children walk dogs?" really ought to be 'should parents take responsibility for their childrens safety whilst walking the dog?'

There are situations when my children have been allowed to walk one of our dogs but there are many more times when I wouldn't even let them hold the lead!  Different children, different dog, and different circumstances require different family rules.  Parents are the ones that need to do the safety and risk assessment based on an adults knowledge of the situation.  Sadly many don't.

I stand corrected jeangenie I'm sorry I read it wrong not a problem
But it shud be imo
Nessa

totally agree dogs a babe at the end of the day responsbility with parents as safety for our kids and dogs come first
To many people just don't care what happens as helped a 7yr old take his dog home as was unfriendly dog chasing him no owner in sight.got him home to his parents and they didn't care about any of it

That dog later attacked a daschaund which had to be pts and that was with an adult and they couldn't save their pet so what if it was the 7yr old
Education is needed at schools as there is no helping unresponsible adults
Nessa  

I personally think that children should not be allowed to walk the dog unsupervised, but even when they do have an adult with them if the adult is not watching all sorts can happen,
Other half and me went for a lovely walk the other day with just one of our crew down the seafront, on the other side if the road there was a family with a staff, the young girl no more than 5 was holding the lead, the staff clocked us and pulled the girl into the across the road to us in front of many cars, ( bank holiday monday ) lucky the staff was a sweetie, but the little girl could have been killed!!
The mother came over and gave the little girl a slap for not being in control.
she grabbed the dogs lead and dragged the little girl back over to the other side.

Lord help us !!

Peanuts

really ought to be 'should parents take responsibility for their childrens safety whilst walking the dog?'

Lets face it parents should take responsibility for their children, full stop.

>Lets face it parents should take responsibility for their children, full stop.

Oh yes and I fear that's a topic waaay beyond a casual Thursday mornings musings.  We could be here all year with that one! :)

Just like to thanks you all for your very interesting& replies & views! just to update you all ! sad lost of the Staffordshire bull terrier that i have just been told this dog never recovered from injuries that was inflicked to him more mentelly!!! the owner found that he pass away in night! 3yrs old ! i have since seen this dog (husky type) that cause injuries and the owner ! it looks more like (akita type x) very big the owner was also walking another dog ! me & my wife was walking are dogs when we come across he it was unbeleivable this dog had no respect !! it went mad when it see are dogs jumping pulling & barking to get to are dogs ! it was very scary we was worried that the lead or coolier broke or even if the owner was unable to hold this dog ( even as this dog was on lead the owner had no control . we had to walk are dogs else were to avoid this owner & his dog!  i feel  sad that owners allow there dogs to become like this!! how can you enjoy to walk a dog like this !

> Do sometimes wonder if it is safe to let men do it with their short term concentration.

LOL

Clearly if child can not control the dog they are walking, they should not be walking it.

But I would not generalise, I think it really depends of the child in question.

I had my first dog when I was twelve. It was my responsibility to train and walk her.
I had my second dog when I was 16 so was walking two dogs.
One of them was not "easy dog" to walk and could be reactive due to being attacked when young(by a Rottie the adult owner could not hold).
Never were my dogs out of control, it is not just all about size/age of the walker but knowing your dog and how to control it.
There were no head collars used back then either so it was collar+lead and reading your dog to know what is going on.
My dogs were leonbergers.

I have seen big/heavy people being pulled along by relatively small dogs and tiny people(adults but petite) controlling a pack of large dogs with ease so it is not all about size but skills.
I would not let most of my friends(adults) to walk my dogs as I know they would not have a clue!