Chase particularly dislikes it when people charge at him, he's a very nervous boy, can't stand other dogs and other dogs (apart from Storm and other family dogs) can't stand him!

I HATE seeing dogs walking off lead or even on flexi leads near roads, so so so dangerous! I also don't like it if kids run up to my dogs, it is ok with Storm and Chase would never react negatively, I just know he doesn't like it, I think I'm used to it though - ever since I had Tara (she was a dalmatian) you get used to children/adults not asking and just coming up and touching your dog....

You certainly aren't wrong to be irritated, I would have been!

No, the dogs are not "100% obedient" - they have simply been obedient thus far.

There is no excuse for ever walking any dog off lead, outside parks/fields etc. No excuse at all.

No dog owner can EVER guarantee that their dog won't catch sight of something or hear a loud sound and bolt or give chase. And if they do, it can heaven forfend cause a car accident. Why the hell should innocent car drivers be put at risk just because some selfish git can't be bothered to clip on a blinking dog lead???

To walk a dog off lead near roads = lack of love for the dog and lack of care for the dog. Simple as that.

It is not 'obedience'.

It is appalling.

Nope, my opinion would still be the same...I HATE to see dogs off lead on the pavement no matter how well behaved they appear to be. I think it's incredibly arrogant or stupid of the owners to believe their dog would never create a problem. I have a dog who just follows at my heels, would never chase a cat, go over to see another dog/person but there is always the chance that she could get spooked by a noise and shoot off. And for that reason, coupled with the fact it's illegal, I would never take the chance.

I live on a corner and we have a largish open planned side lawn. There is a man who has a westie who insists on walking it off lead, even though it runs on gardens, runs up to other dogs snapping and snarling. It runs on to my garden and up to the gate to harass my dogs in the back yard. Why it's owner would think it's well behaved enough to run free is beyond me. Then, this morning I heard shouts of "come here!" to see another neighbouring dog running on our lawn. Now, this dog has always been kept on lead before on the pavement but for some reason (maybe they've seen the man with the westie!) they are now walking it off lead. To say i'm fed up of these dogs running on our lawn is an understatement Get your fecking untrained dog on a lead!!!!

So far this Christmas our walks havent been brilliant! Had to abandon the walk today because there were too many shoots going off, Christmas Eve walk Flynn had another funny turn scaring me witless and yesterdays walk was just plain boring!

1 Having a dog off lead on the public highway is illegal.
2 Having a dog off lead where it and others could be put at risk is stupid, thoughtless and reckless
3 HAve you ever seen a RTA caused by a loose dog?
4 Have you ever seen a dog run over by a car?
5 Have you ever seen other road users injured due to a loose dog?
6 Have you ever owned a dog that was injured or killed due to your lack of common sense, and duty of care?
7 Have you ever been behind the wheel of a car when a dog went between your wheels?
8 Have you ever seen a top Schutzhund, Working Trials, Obedience, Agility, HWTM, Show Dog, police dog, Guide Dog being put at risk like this?

Unfortuntely you cannot legislate for morons, but you can learn from them (at least some can)

My opinion of people who put their animals at risk like this is that they should not own them.

We met loads of people on our Christmas day walk, and all of the dogs were friendly, my worst nightmare came true though (well the first of yesterdays fiasco's) Louie ran up to a Staffie that I hadn't seen before.. he was only 7 months old and so giddy though so it was a short lived nightmare

Then Louie decided he wanted in on a pack of beagles.. so glad the man didn't mind.. he had 5 beagles on lead and a Louie walking with him - I was rather amused by it all.. and so was the man - thankfully.

We were in the vets recently with Storm, when one of the vets burst in through the front carrying a screaming malamute, who was clearly paralysed, in agony, with half of his face missing following a RTA with a huge 4x4, he died in agony without his mum with him, he was obviously a loved dog, collar, chipped, his sister was with him, she had also somehow become lose, either escaped from the house/garden or on a walk...it has stayed with me, haunted me and Rachy ever since. If anyone who thinks its ok to walk their dog offlead had seen what we saw that day they would never ever do it again!

I beg to differ.

However your view is so far removed from the "norm" (I hope) that it would appear to be pointless in engaging in any debate with you.

This is the exact kind of response I feel over dramatising a situation. This guy does have complete controll over his dogs and how dare you for making an assumption like that.

These dogs have never strayed, never disobayed or done anything wrong and think anyone rude assuming all off lead dogs is not loving their dogs.

Lorna - sorry you had to witness that. How awful. Must have been horrendous to witness.

I had to pick a cat up off our street a week or so ago that had just been run over. (It was an accident and the poor driver was very upset) It was awful. I went and picked it up as no-one else could bring themselves to do it and I didn't want the school children that would have been pouring out a few minutes later to see it as it was in a mess. I guess it really brings it home; witnessing something like that. You can't help but think 'if that was one of my pets......'

Had to pick up and bury a stray rabbit today off our street (not one of mine!). Not having a very good time on our street with animals lately.

It really makes you think about safety though - frankly we owe it to our pets to take every precaution necessary to prevent such a death from happening.

Witnessed a wally with a dog on a Flexi lead the other day - dog wandered straight into the middle of the road (usually very busy!) with the owner absolutely oblivious.

I guess now I know why people don't like Flexi leads!

Whisper doesn't really like being on-lead for some reason - she's usually fine but on the way back from the park to home she often 'drags' on the lead. It's sooo tempting as she's so well mannered to just let her off-lead but there's no way I'd ever take that risk. I love her too much.

We have passed on the information about the idiot we witnessed hitting the dog, by the way, and hubby plans to have a one-to-one chat with him too about how wrong it was of him to do it.

But equally, are you not making an assumption that these dogs have never misbehaved? Just because you have not witnessed any lack of control does not mean it may not exist.