Sadly my Sister knew of a competition obedience dog that died as a result of being run over by a car as the owner didn't think it necessary to have it on a alead near the road. I agree that most people in the categories you've described would have more sense.

Just come back from a near miss with a BC that the owner insists on biking along the roads (bad enough) without a lead. Time to report him to the police I think

There used to be a girl groom who rode out hunters around here, usually riding one and leading another, with a jack russell charging about the road with her. Very dangerous!

I've seen only one person in my neighborhood do this successfully. She has a dog who consistently walks to heel, sits when she stops, etc. A leash would just be an extra thing because the dog was not fazed by ANYTHING. I once saw a squirrel dart in from the dog and it got no more than a glance and then the dog looked up at its owner.

Other people? NO WAY. I've seen it multiple times and always expect to find them dogless eventually. One guy down the road had two spaniels of some sort. Both young (siblings according to someone who knows them). He doesn't walk them off leash but lets them out off leash. Where they terrorize other dogs and poop in other people's yards. He now only has ONE dog. Gee, wonder what became of the other one.

I HAVE walked my dog off leash by pavement but under only one circumstance: the snow banks were too high to scale. LOL I've done it a few times at night for a pee walk where we basically go around one block and never cross the road and the snow banks around the sidewalks were three feet high.

I would not trust ANY dog off lead near a road. I don't care how obedient they are, every dog can be tempted by something, or indeed, can be terrified enough by something to cause it to bolt into the road. It is just not worth the risk IMO, however obedient your dog is.

Totally agree with that!!

Apart from loving my dog so much I would not KNOWINGLy put it at risk by doing something as stupid as having it off the lead next to or on a road (as it is entirely forseeable that at some point the dog is going to come a cropper),

I make my living doing risk assessments and one thing you learn is people do what they do because they get away with it.

I say (and the stats back me up) that yes, you will get away with (insert relevant moronic behaviour) circa 400 times, but the law of averages (or actuaries where insurance is concerned) is that at some point in time your luck will run out.

In addition to this, as it is a criminal offence to have a dog off the lead on the public highway (Article 27 of the RTA) I have no wish to be prosecuted under this law with the implications that could have to my life.

Nor do I want to be prosecuted under various other acts for failing to extend a duty of care to others.

Neither do I wish to be sued for negligence should my carelessness cause the death of my dog or anyone else.

So apart from the moral issue, I do not knowingly break the law, neither am I so rich to be able to afford the hundreds of thousands of pounds a civil claim may cost (and my insurance would be invalid because I had not taken proper care of my dog).

But others may feel their dogs lives, the lives of others, a potential criminal record and being made penniless by a civil claim as risks they are willing to take.

I did phone up and report the guy to the police and they will be cruising the roads at the time he normally goes out in the morning to have a word; job done!

People can call me whatever they like, I really don't mind. I've been on this forum a long time so have got a very thick skin!

Like I've said many times before, no one knows me, my dogs or where I live. No one knows what the roads are like where I walk, how busy they are, how my dogs are trained etc.

It's not about my ego, if people really knew me they'd already know that. It's just something I do with my dogs, it's something I've always done, although less so now as I live in town and the risks are much greater due to the increased population etc. I weigh up every situation individually and decide whether to leash them or not based on whether there are any risks involved at the time. I think it's important to think outside of the box, there are many risks involved with walking a dog by the roadside with or without a lead and I personally think it's quite dangerous to assume having a lead on a dog automatically keeps it safe.

As I always say it's a free country and people are entitled to their opinion as much as I am.

Oh and before anyone comes up with the "it's illegal" angle, I walked my dogs off lead on the road past police monitoring the motorway traffic everyday when I lived in the country. Not once did I get arrested and the dogs were often petted and fussed by the police men. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in doing things that are illegal, even though we know we shouldn't.

personally think it's quite dangerous to assume having a lead on a dog automatically keeps it safe.

I have not seen a post by anyone on this thread making that assumption. It is a duty of care and demonstrates that you have not chosen to be negligent. Of course leads can break.

Not putting a dog on a lead in this situation is like saying "I won't put a seatbelt on my child when I drive, as I will drive carefullly" ........ senseless.