I ask because today I took Sal and Tess out with my two nieces who will be 12 in Nov and 11 in Jan. They took it in turns to walk Sal the other getting the puppy Tess    I walked with them and Sal does not pull at all and actually won't go more than about 4ft in front of me without stopping. Well we saw a girl of about 12 maybe 13 (my older niece said went to Senior school last year) and she was walking a Lab albeit a nice Lab. We walked almost  towards her and she said "Please don't some to close he doesn't like other dogs!!!!!"
We were walking a different way anyhow. Took Tess back home and hen I walked the girls to their house about 3 miles away. We saw the girl again this time she was in trouble. A loose dog "with an owner that obviously did not realise the problem at first"
The loose dog trying to playwith the Lab who was going ballistic.

I looped Sal's lead round  a lampost (not sure  the girls could hold her if she thought I was being barked at by another dog. And left them with her. 
Then I ran to help the girl calling the owner of the other dog who rushed over too. I grabbed the Labs lead and with an effort pulled him back into a "sit" the owner of the loose dog put his  dog on lead. The girl was crying, we I used my phone to phone her house and her mom came to get her as she was really shook up.

So how old would you let a child be to walk a dog alone?

Karen

I would think it depends on the child as well as the dog. I wouldn't ever let Sophie (14) walk Hudson or Delta on her own, yet she is the epitome of a mature young lady :)

I personally wouldn't let a child walk a dog unsupervised.  The situation you mentioned must have been awful for the girl concerned.  The other thing you have to think of is however responsible you/child are and how well behaved your dog is doesn't necessarily mean others are.  I have seen a child who at the time was ten, walking a great dane that took a dislike to a small dog and all hell let loose.  Ended up that me and my partner had to take the old lady with the small dog to the vets and the girl with the great dane home.

Michelle :)

It depends on the child and the dog. I was allowed to walk our mongrel (father labrador, mother's parentage unknown) when I was 8.

My eldest is 13, and is Sparky's main trainer. She is a really sensible kid, and she walks him on short road walks around our estate, but I've had too many hairy moments myself with other dogs, including one time when I had to drag Sparky from the river, to let her take him to the park on her own. There is also a spate of dog thefts around here, and I dread to think what an easy target a child could be for some of the idiots out there. Sorry to be so dismal. :(
Tracy

I don't think you can generalise, depends on the child and, more importantly, the breed! I recently had to go to the rescue when a child of no more than 4 was left outside a shop with a x-breed (looked like Old English x something) much bigger than himself. A very nervous BC with equally nervous owner walked across the road & the X breed took off after it. I had to grab the dog (who only wanted to play) to prevent the child getting towed down the road on his face (he wouldn't let go of the lead, bless him). BC nearly died of fright when neurotic owner started waving a stick at the x-breed & guess who got all the verbal abuse??  I'll be an innocent by-stander next time (not really, it wasn't the boy's fault, wasn't the dog's fault, but the boy's stupid mother for leaving him outside & not thinking what could happen). Maybe she just hadn't noticed that the pup was now bigger than her son. :(

I find it a headache taking mine for a walk some days preventing them from getting into a fight with other dogs.    I wouldn't let a youngster take mine for a walk because I would be afraid of the child getting hurt if there was a fight!    A youngster living by me witnessed her dog being attached the other day, it's a good job that she didn't intervene, and you can see the fear in her face now when she sees other dogs approaching her when she's out walking her dog.....but now there is always someone with her.....she's twelve. 

I was allowed to walk one of my families Afghans at the age of 8 (obviously not far) because he was so gentle.  The other Afghan was a bit of a nightmare with other dogs/cars/people etc and I was walking him by the age of 11 or 12 by that age though I was walking all three dogs (2 afghans and a bichon) I was fully in control though and had the strength to hold them all back ;)

I'd be more concerned about the childs safety, out walking alone, under the age of 15 at least.

I really must check the source of this - but for our BIPDT dog exams, we have to know that the minimum age for a child exercising a dog in a public space is 14.

I would be very wary about letting any child younger than this out with a dog - even if they are sensible and the dog is an angel - other people's dogs may not be and it is a lot of responsibilty to put on a child. Would they know what to do if a dog attacked their's ?

Daisy

Trust me ChloeH no one would have come near my with my 3, and one of mine wouldnt have let them ;)  I know what you mean though, these days it wouldnt be safe, this was over 10 years ago and there wasnt that much publicity then about children being abducted but im sure it went on :(  I must admit though I was only allowed to walk in certain places, I wasnt allowed to go hiking off accross the fields where there was no one about.

I let my 15 yr old son take my boxer for a walk on his own, but my other children only have hold of the lead if I am walking with them even though Dixie does not pull...I only let my eldest son go out on his own with the dog as he is strong enough to hold the dog and also big enough  to pick up after the dog, as I see so many young children being dragged around our married quarters letting thier dogs mess everywhere and not clear up after the dog...I blame alot of parents for this who can't be bothered to take the dog out themselves and find the easy option to get the kids to do it.

Jane..

Hi
I have a 13 year old who is very good, sensible, mature, good horsewoman, junior handler, keen dog owner, and she walks our male lab. We've had problems with him thinking he should protect her (she's had him since she was 8), and was a bit agressive with other dogs. We've now solved this problem - thanks in many ways to John on this forum.

However, we live in the Isle of Man, a safe place one might think,  and usually is. However two weeks ago, she was attacked by another dog owner (Shar-pei), when the other dog attacked our dog - our dog on the lead. My daughter who has worked hard with our boy had him under control, but asked the owner of the attacking dog to take control - and that was when the owner (female),of the Shar Pei assaulted her. Can you imagine my daughter's shock of not only having to deal with the owner pushing her into a corner, and trying to hit, she also had the Shar Pei attacking her dog (she was still holding the lead). This all happened about 20 yards from our home!!!!

It's the other people I have problems with, and whilst my daughter is quite mature -she is still only 13, so I would suggest that children do not walk dogs unsupervised.

The police have taken a very dim view of the behaviour of owner of the Shar Pei, and she is now under caution - some people should'nt have dogs!!!

I hope this is a cautionary tale.

That's a dreadful story,Manxpat, your daughter must have been very frightened :( 

I hope it didn't put the training back too much either...

Lindsay
X

Thanks Lindsay

My daughter is a strongwilled girl. She was shaken and shocked, but it has not affected the training. In some ways it gave her more confidence because she knows she can control her dog.

That's good, glad she is OK

Lindsay
X

with my dogs and my kids they will not walk my dogs (even the pup) if my OH or me are not there, until the kids are until 16, i often take the kids out with me when i am walking the dogs and they take it in turns to hold the lead.
this is for 2 reason, i don't want some1 to pinch my dogs and hurt the kids and there are a lot of strays around by me and there is no way a child any young could stop a fight if 1 was to happen.

but when i was younger i used to walk my uncles Rottie and i was only 8. i never had any trouble with other ppl or dogs, and i used to walk him miles,  ppl used to laugh at such a small girl (im only 5" now) walking such a large dog

I think it depends on the dog as well as the child. I let my daughter (12) walk my boston's around the block with the neighbours daughter (9), but that is only because they walk nicley to heal and she can control them. I would not allow her to walk Junior even tho he is lil he is a handful at times and Taz goes with out saying since he is a big dog...

Since this dog wasn't good with other dogs I would not have let her walk him cause things can turn ugly real fast like they did...Good for you that you were there to help or things may have turned alot uglier :)

I used to walk the neighbours' dogs when i was about 13, but the world seemed a bit safer then! Mind you, i do remember a dodgy man exposing himself!!  

Lindsay
X

Where I lived on the edge of Epping Forest, men exposing themselves was an occupational hazard if you were a child :( :( But we were resiliant children - unlike some of the overprotected children of today and we just giggled and ran (we were fit enough to as we ran wild all summer holidays).

Daisy

I remember being "flashed" at a few times, yes we used to laugh and run off too :D , these days there would be a man hunt, in those days the police would just take the details and nothing would happen about it.

If a man flashed at my daughter I would expect a man hunt. Because if he's the sort to flash at children he could easily be the sort to abduct one. It should be taken extremely seriously IMO.

But in those days a flasher was a flasher, the reason they flashed we were told was because they were too scared to do anything else, we were actually told to laugh at them to make them go away and it worked, kids never seemed to be abducted by perverts in those days.  These days I agree, if someone flashed at a kid the chances are they would end up snatching a child :(

kids never seemed to be abducted by perverts in those days.

Unless you lived near Saddleworth Moor & came accross Myra Hindley & Ian Brady & people also forget about Lesley Moleseed who the police fitted up an innocent young man as the abducter, rapist  & killer for. Poor Guy spent years in prison & then when his innocence was proved, was released & died 18 months later, her killer is  still at large

Nearer to me a young boy adbucted from his sisters home & raped murdered & dumped in a bag in the canal His killer is also still at large

These cases cover 40 years & other children went missing that never hit the headlines like they do today. It was easier to hide a murder in the past as forensics were very crude & ineffective. No DNA tests etc

I totally agree with MM.

But at what cost to the child ? :( I would certainly think long and hard before subjecting my child to being questioned by police etc etc.

Daisy

speaking of men in mac's flashing/perverts/rape - which we weren't!! statistically a hight number of people who are raped (male and female) know their attacker. That is not to say it does not happen in other cases.  It has always happened we just hear more about it now - communications being what they are. Perhaps food for another thread.

By the way in the Isle of Man, you must be 12 years old to be in charge of a dog in public without adult supervision.