The Importance of Leash Laws

I'm fortunate enough to own a home where my property abuts a beautiful park with wonderful walking trails. In good weather, I walk there almost daily.

As you can imagine, it's also a popular spot for dog owners to take their furry friends out for a walk.

Mostly, this is a good thing. I love seeing smiling dogs and their equally as happy Moms and Dads strolling through the trails.

Recently, though, it wasn't a good thing.

I was strolling along, minding my own business and this lab sized dog comes out of nowhere. Being an animal communicator, I knew he was friendly and wanted to say hi. But his Mom didn't know that I knew and was hollering, "HE'S FRIENDLY" as loud as she could.

I gave the nice boy a pat, and he presented me with his ball. Playtime! But his Mom wasn't into that and started shrieking "DON'T THROW IT" even louder. We're talking glass shattering level screams.

My heart was racing, not because of the dog who was perfectly wonderful and polite, but because this woman's tone was outrageous. Not to mention, despite all her shouting, she had made ZERO movement towards actually getting her dog back with her.

Ugh!

Honestly, part of me wanted to throw that ball out of spite. I didn't.

I put the slobbering ball down gently, gave the nice boy another pat, and walked away. As I do, I finally hear this woman yelling for her dog to come. None of this would have happened if she'd simply kept her dog on a leash.

Now, I completely understand that dogs need playtime off the leash. But a public park in a town with a leash law is not the place for that.

There's many reasons for this. And not all of them have to do with people, but I'll cover those first.

Let's say I was afraid of dogs and one came at me out of nowhere. How would that go? Would I lash out and hurt the dog out of fear? Would I run, which might prompt the dog to chase and escalate the situation? Would I take it out verbally or physically on the owner?

Everyone's response would be different, but clearly, they could get to not good pretty quickly.

Or what if I'm a little kid and this very friendly dog scares me simply because he's big and moves fast? I could be traumatized for life.

You get the idea.

Now, what about the dog. Because leash laws protect the dog too!

Let's say I'm a happy-go-lucky pup and my Mom or Dad is taking me for a walk without my leash on. All of a sudden, I see a squirrel and my instincts kick in "CHASE!!!"

I'm off before Mom or Dad knows what's happening. I can hear them calling me, and normally I'm super obedient and come when I'm called, but this squirrel is just too good to back away from.

Before I know it, I'm deep in the woods, lost. I can't hear Mom or Dad any more and they're super upset because they don't know how to find me.

Or, possibly worse, I run across the street after Mr. Squirrel and get hit by a car because I don't know about things like looking both ways. Now, Mom or Dad is sad, I'm hurt (or worse), and the person driving the car is upset, too.

None of these are good scenarios!

So please, for your peace of mind, others' safety and peace of mind, and for your dog's safety and health, USE A LEASH!

Thank you!