Just wanting to check out people's opinions.
The young girl at work has a two year old Springer, a spoilt crazy pet. She came in very excited this morning announcing that the she managed to get him to walk off the lead all the way home from the park and along the main road (it is a busy A road) and it would be great not having to have him on the lead much longer!!!

I told her I still wouldn't do it even though my dogs would probably be OK as you never know when something will either excite, spook or distract them and told her that it is actually illegal. A few minutes later she looked at me smugly and announced it was legal as she had just Googled it to make sure she was not breaking the law. I always though a dog had to be on a leash near a highway, does anyone know the answer?

It is my understanding that dogs must be on leads alongside what are called "designated roads" normally main/busy roads but often much smaller/quieter - although that could just be a specific bylaw to our area?
ETA I appears that roads become "designated roads" on the instructions of the local council.

I might suggest legal or not her dog is going to come a cropper, sooner or later.

Jeff.

Yep my thoughts exactly but it looks good to be walking him off lead!!!

What happens when a cat rushes out across the road in front of her, Dead dog or what !!
LEGAL or not,  no matter how well behaved and obedient my dogs are I would never "risk" them being off the lead alongside any road!

An accident waiting to happen.
What a pity she puts her own image and convenience before the safety of her dog.

What is that I can hear her saying "My dogs never been killed on the road before"
Aileen

> it would be great not having to have him on the lead much longer

This sort of thing always puzzles me. If a dog is well-behaved it is not any hassle to keep it on a lead anyway.

Poor dog.

I remember seeing a young woman walking her dog loose into town. Lovely looking dog, Irish Setter I think, it was marching along next to the woman who appeared to be strutting along with a big ego that her dog was loose and walking next to her. Crikey did her face change as the dog stepped out into the road to look at something in the gutter. Thankfully the dog was not hit by traffic and no vehicle needed to brake or swerve to miss it. It was a very, very lucky dog that day.

Just the same as all the other posters, I'd rather not have to rely on luck to keep my dog safe, a lead will do the trick.

Its the The Road Traffic Act 1988 that says dogs must be on a lead on a designated road.
Heres the act to show her
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/27

The highway code states to be kept on a short lead:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069853

Certainly on the posters on lamp posts it's potential £500 fine for a dog off lead, but we are never near one of these when I spot idiots walking their dog off lead, or just as bad on an unlocked Flexi lead..

Yikes, she's just waiting to have him run over. Show her those links people have put lower down asap and let's hope she sees sense!

Terrible, but it seems to be quite the trend these days, especially around where I live!

I don't understand why people do this!? Even if my dog was EXTREMELY well trained, I can't see the inconvinience of a lead?!

Apart from the dogs safety (which is obviously very very important) I would think if your dog was off lead and caused a road traffic accident the owner would be liable for the cost of the repairs to the cars (which I guess could be considerable). I think some dog insurance cover this if your dog accidentally ran out your front door and caused a RTA but I wouldn't think the same would apply if you had the dog off lead by choice.

Plus you could have the guilt of a person's death on your conscience never mind the dog!!!!

No it doesnt look good imo it looks flipping reckless !. had this recently getting my Whipsa (gsd) out of the car on the lead as I did I notice a man with 2 large dogs walking them along the pavement with no leads on our side. Now had I taken whispa out of the car and not noticed them the likelyhood of all three meeing nose to nose and perhaps someone ending up in the road was high I would have thought. I know whispa is not happy if surprised by another dog and would have barked at the least. As it was I waited ages before we got out s i was worried they might see him and run to meet us . Sooo dangerous not clever

I don't understand why people do this!?

Think it is because that type of owner sees the dog as a fashion accessory I wish they would stick to handbags.

I see a lot of elderly men doing it around here. All of your typical 'handbag dogs' seem to have fancy jewelled leads, so thankfully there is at least one fashion statement that is good for their dogs!

with regard to "handbag dogs " and owning one  :) most seem to be carried lol Mine btw does use her legs as its a pet hate of mine.
Our problem round here  is generaly the sterotypical "hard guy" with a staff or 2 or similar having them off lead and a few feet infront or behind.  The worst I witnessed was one such situation when the younger of  two staffs ran across the road to my on lead gsd  causing chaos between them was then gather up by his owner and whipped with the chain lead that the owner carried all the time apologizing to me for his young dogs behaviour :(

This is where the saying DEAD RIGHT came from.

Hope she doesn't learn the hard way.

Accident just waiting to happen INMHO.
I hate to see people using flexi leads on busy roads, even if in the locked position they have been known to unlock with a good pull and they are also so difficult to hold with large dogs.
A trainer from our local club told a story of a small dog on a flexi lead, it saw another dog the other side of a busy road and before the owner could react ran out into the road, it was hit by a lorry and the owner was left with a dead dog on the end of a flexi.
Flexi leads are fine for in parks and restricted areas where dogs have to be kept on lead, but for road walking a nice soft lead with a good strong clip is the best equipment to have.

A fair bit of it goes on here. I call it 'Road Roulette'............

owner sees the dog as a fashion accessory

Yes, that is not the right way to describe this sort of owner but it is they female version of the lads who parade the street with their hard dogs, it is to extend their err, shall we say ego and in the female version it is look at me just see what a beautiful, clever dog I own and how this dog adores me.

And here Marisa, makes me whince and go cold when I see it. I have in the past tried to give advice, but sometimes it is just not worth it as people these days do not want to take it, blank stares or even " mind your own business " I find these days it is just better not to say anything and hope that the poor dogs do not meet with an accident.
Perhaps if we had more public information, and basic training classes were compulsory for all owners this would help.

I hope that she has spectacularly good public liability insurance, 'cos if the dog runs into the road and causes a pile up, all the insurance companies involved, are going to be after her....

> This is where the saying DEAD RIGHT came from.
> Hope she doesn't learn the hard way.

When it does happen, it will be the other persons fault as far as she is concerned. I haven't met a person yet walking their dog off lead along or near a road who appears to have the IQ or ability to see the concern, they live in a world where it is always someone else's problem.

I dont know,but my dogs will walk nicely off the lead-until they see a cat or something scares them! Far too risky imo.I always think-"how would I feel,if - - "not worth it.

And yesterday, I saw a man aged about 40-ish, walking down the road with a very petite SHELTIE off lead!

Poor little dog was the other side of the road from me and visibly jumped when my boy eyeballed her... as if she thought he would come charging over. Well of course he wouldn't - he might hurl insults from his side of the road.... but he's on a lead! She did recover and carried on, but a little too ahead of the owner for my liking, although she checked back to look at him all the time. If she's that well trained, then what's the issue with not having a lead on?

Was it a case of macho "Well I wanted a staffy but my wife got a sheltie and if I HAVE to walk it, it'll be on my terms."

Or just a case of being old enough to know better, but not yet wise enough to follow through?

I genuinely think they think 'It'll never happen to me..' blah blah blah. It is similar to how the majority of drink drivers are 50+.

> If she's that well trained, then what's the issue with not having a lead on?

Just read that bit back to myself, of course I meant she should have a lead on!!! especially as she seemed stressed by an on-lead dog giving her the evils from other side of the road.

I was horrified to see a chap from the LA doing some landscaping work on a roundabout on a busy section of road near me the other day.. with his collie, off lead..

And the collie was eyeballing and stalking the traffic, at one point he was lay down in that 'collie ready to go' crouch giving a motorbike a REALLY hard stare - the owner had his back to his dog the whole time and even OH noticed and commented at what an idiot the owner was (and he is usually utterly oblivious to dog stuff but he could see what the collie was doing!).

I see it all the time round here, really irresponsible. The other week i say a pointer off lead that was quite a bit of his owner who was jsut saundering along with teh lead round his own neck. THe dog got level with a hidden foot path where someone was tying her shoe lace with two little dogs on lead. One of the little dogs slipped the lead out of her hand and chased the dog into the road barking. Poor woman was having a heart attack trying to stop it and the chap with the pointer didn't even call his dog or even rush to catch up! I bet he blamed the other woman entirely and wasn't going to make any efforty because his dog is "well trained!" It makes me so cross. Ive even seen someone leave their collie (who is NEVER on a lead) outside of a cafe off lead and go inside to have a drink. He also plays ball in quiet roads without pavements. Its about time someone started doing something about these idiots.

It needs to be illegal to do it everywhere - no by laws, no designated roads, every public road should be on-lead only.  A bloke down the road used to walk his two young labs round here, never on leads, no collars, nothing to get hold of, and they ran about all voer, into peoples' gardens and often into my neighbour's garden to try and attack my dogs through the fence!

I reported him to the DW after I stood watching one of them having a poo in my front garden - he didn't see what his dog was doing because he was just striding off ahead letting them do whatever they liked.

The DW sent him a letter about the poo... and that's it.  Didn't even mention the attempted attacks, the danger etc because my road was not on-lead designated!  Ridiculous.  At the time my neighbour was 84 and very unsteady, and liked to give my guys biscuits over the fence - if they'd rushed in to try and get them when shewas there she'd have been over.  But nope, not a word about that.

The bloke is still there but the dogs are gone now - I can only hope that he had enough complaints about them to make him rehome them to someone with a functioning brain cell!

Chap jogging through our village last year very nearly got his Lab killed and caused an accident.
I'd seen him a few times, jogging along the pavement with his Lab off lead, this day I happened to be in the field running along side the pavement, speaking to a neighbour who was standing on the pavement. The dog must have been wary of people as it moved onto the road to avoid George, and moved right into the path of on coming traffic, the owner hadn't a clue either as the dog was behind him.
Thankfully after that incident I've never seen him again.
There are some right eejit's out there, that's for sure.