Kids walking dogs?

Whilst at training last night, a young girl aged only 12 years old entered the hall with an extremely dog aggressive staff, there were no parents with her at all, they had sent her to the hall to "sort" the dogs problems out! She obviously couldnt hold the dog which was on a collar that was far too big for it, so we put extra leads etc on it for extra security but it managed to slip them luckily we stopped the dog from getting near any of the other dogs so no harm was done. What really scares me is that this girl walks this dog daily allows it off lead, knowing what the dog is most definately likely to do if confronted by another dog, I cannot believe the irresponsibilty of the girls mother allowing her to do this! I would hate for this girl to witness her dog maim or kill another dog then have to lose her dog as well. What I would really like to know is, is there a law about children under a certain age being allowed to walk dogs without parental or adult supervision?

no law that i know of, i walked my dog from the age of 11, but none of mine have been agressive and if they were my mum certainly woulndt of let me go out with them. it is extremely irresponsible of her parents but i dont think there is anythin that can be done. maybe there should be a law put in place, but i have no idea on how you would go about it..

I think the law applies to all dog walkers that the dog has to be under control etc.....No age limit as such.

There is no rule as such, but are you insured for a minor to handle a dog in classes without an adult there? I'd check to be on the safe side!!!

thats terrible, some people are so irresponsible.

no idea if there is a law, but i walked my old dog when i was 10 but he had no aggression issues and was amazing well behaved. if i had jake when i was 10, i wouldnt be walking him coz he is much more difficult.

"There is no rule as such, but are you insured for a minor to handle a dog in classes without an adult there? I'd check to be on the safe side!!!"

Its not my club but I will get them to check it out. I cannot believe the womans behaviour it is appaling!

I think that it is wrong that a girl that is unable to handle the dog is handling it. It should AT LEAST be muzzled, so if she couldn't hold on to it, it couldn't do any major damage to another dog.

I think the class should get in touch with her parents in all honesty.

There aren';t any laws in this COuntry limiting ages of dog handlers but the training club shoul dhave insurance in place which could be void if it can be shown that the minor involved in an incident didn't have full and proper control of the dog.

On the upside, at least this girl has been to training and she can take advice and tips from other dog owners ther as well as the trainers. Maybe a full harness and head collar would help with her overall control of him rather than a flat collar and lead.

And she should certainly be advised NEVER to let him off lead, whether any dogs are about or not.

If someone can get through to the girl rather than the parents (who clearly couldn't care less) then hopefully she can work with the dog and won't end up rehoming or losing him.

Laura xx

God thats so irresponsible! You'd think the parents would want to go to make sure everything goes smoothly.

I remember when I was out walking my 2 and I got bombarded by a ton of 8 year olds. They were all saying they wanted to hold their leads, and were actually grabbing them off me!!

Eventually I let them just stand there and hold the lead, but we were on a street and my heart was in my mouth! After 2 seconds I made my excuses and left.

Its sweet that they obviously really liked my dogs, but I have to put their safety first. If one of mine pulled to sniff something, they'd have dropped the lead.

Parents are responsible for minors (though this is rarely enforced). So if the dog was dangerously out of control, the parents would be taken to court, not the child. Doubt if it`d ever happen, though.