J-Colio t1_iy6bqnw wrote on November 29, 2022 at 1:51 AM

Reply to comment by icecreamfist in No criminal charges for owner of pit bull that killed 88 year old woman by AphidGenocide

>My point is that a dog is never trained well enough to be reasonably let off leash in public.

Police dogs, service dogs, search and rescue dogs, military dogs, etc.... all disagree.

Dogs can 100% be trained off leash. Being truly off-leash trained is one of the epitomes of dog training. It is not easy. It takes like 5 hours a day, every day, for months or even years.

Most people don't have that time, commitment, or training, but it's possible.

>It sure would allow me to walk my dog more than half a block.

Bruh... Do you need help? My dog's extremely well socialized if you need help. I walk him 2-5 hours a day. If you're being literal with that... That's sad for your dog.

>A dog is happy when they are loved, cared for, and stimulated. Not every dog needs to run around in a 5 acre park, untethered. Just 20 minutes of sniffing is the equivalent of an hours walk of enrichment for every dog.

No! A tired dog is a good dog. A tired dog is a happy dog. I have a Bassett hound, a breed known for being chill with being lazy; he lives for going on long adventures! Your statement is purely wrong, and if you try that with any working breed, then you're going to have a neurotic and uncontrollable mess. Dogs bred to work on farms for 12 straight hours a day hearding cattle aren't going to bat an eyelash at 20 minutes of sniffing. Dogs bred to run the Iditarod will literally roll their eyes at that. Dogs bred to hunt lions in the Sahara will end up hunting things they're not supposed to if they're only given 20 minutes of stimulation. A 7 week puppy needs that much stimulation because their body energy is going into growing. A fully grown dog will end up a mess with only 20 minutes. That's so sad. Dogs aren't cats. You can't set it and forget it.

icecreamfist t1_iy6erxd wrote on November 29, 2022 at 2:14 AM

Point taken about service dogs, rescue dogs, etc. However, disagree with police dogs. Sometimes the police officers themselves cannot control the police dog.

>Bruh... Do you need help? My dog's extremely well socialized if you need help. I walk him 2-5 hours a day. If you're being literal with that... That's sad for your dog.

Yep being literal with that - my neighborhood has a lot of unleashed dogs. It's why I paid for a fence to play with my dog, and have to literally walk her up and down my street and watch for dogs, or walk her in off hours, or take her on Cary St or something that I know will be busy and dogs will be leashed.

It wasn't as bad a few years ago, but a lot of new people have moved into the neighborhood and unleashed dogs have gotten worse. For instance, someone was walking around with an unleashed pit on my block just this past week. My new neighbors literally play with their dogs unleashed in the street, etc.

We worked with a behaviorist and put in hours a day with a for 3 years now with my dog just to boost her confidence and lower her stress and to be somewhat normal like she was when she was a pup, and bad encounters with other dogs or humans sets her back again.

My statement 20 minutes of sniffing wasn't to say that it fully accounts for all of a dogs needs, but that mental stimulation has just as important enrichment as physical stimulation. But yes dogs need all the physical activity they can get, which is why I think if everyone leashed their dogs in public, every dog can get the exercise and be outdoors to enjoy and all that fun stuff.