A council is going to fine people who walk more than four dogs. http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/01/counc...-walking-more-than-four-dogs-at-once-6607890/ What do you think? I often see a bloke who walks eight dogs of various sizes, from miniature dachshund to ridgeback, they trot along with him - most of the time off lead - and all are as good as gold. He picks up all the poos . He puts them on lead when approaching roads, but not otherwise and they never bother people or dogs. I don't honestly see a problem with this. ..
Classic case of not dealing with the root cause. I'm assuming in this case not picking up after your dog? I don't think this law will solve that problem. Much easier to fine someone walking more than four dogs and looking like the council is making an effort; far more difficult waiting and watching for people who don't pick up. Makes me mad.
I'm not sure this is about poo - where I live it's about the practical number of dogs that can be managed on paths, and pavements, on lead and as a pack off lead. Across most of Wimbledon Common there is a 4 dog rule, and I'm glad about it. The bit just outside the '4 dog only' area, is called the wild west (it is at the West of the Common ) - within the control area, the rangers will greet dog walkers driving in and check how many dogs they have with them. I'm shocked if I ever walk my dogs in the wild west, as is my dog walker. There are dog walkers with 10, 15 dogs off lead and it's total chaos. To be honest, it's bad enough to be mugged by a dog walking pack of 4, but if they are any bigger it can be a nightmare. I'll never forget my most unpleasant run in with a dog walker who allowed a pack of 10 dogs to surround Charlie on lead then told me I had an unsocialised dog when I said neither me nor my dog appreciated this! Tut. So, I'm completely in favour of a 4 dog rule, absolutely. Of course there are responsible people that could walk more than 4 dogs safely, but for me, 4 seems reasonable for one person to manage sensibly.
I don't mind as long as they pick up after them, and have them under control and can put them on lead if another on lead dog is coming along - but obviously the more dogs they have, the less likely this is. I was pretty annoyed when I was approaching two people walking 4 dogs off lead with my Lab, who was on lead, and they didn't bother to put theirs on lead (even though they had ample time to do so before I caught up to them, probably because they assume "oh mine are well behaved"). Well mine is still quite excitable about dogs and I can manage it if the other dog is on lead, but even if the other dogs are calm when they go up to him, it still gets him extremely excited and makes it really difficult to keep control of the situation. My only other option was to turn around the way I came to avoid them, which I shouldn't have to do, or yell at them to put theirs on lead, again I shouldn't have to do.
There are dog walkers who can handle a pack of eight and others who shouldn't be out with two, let alone four. I think this type of law has been in tried in San Francisco and all the professional dog walkers protested so much that it was impacting their livelihoods that they had to drop it or it was up for being dropped. What is the maximum number of dogs per household allowed in the area where they are putting in the four dog rule? It almost sounds like from the article that there is no maximum?
Can see both sides . Local to us are two dog walkers , both licenced with the council for their business . One manages several dogs extremely well indeed , I have seen her with six , no problems at all . The other one struggles to control two or three , even on leads and never attempts to stop them from approaching other dogs which annoys the heck out of me .
I'd like to believe that my boss and I (we always walk the dogs together, I'm there to assist them) We can walk 8 dogs between us (no more than 4 each!) You know each dog extremely well and only with permission of the owner are we allowed to let dogs off. Even so if there recall isn't spot on we can only trust them in certain parks, were lucky that we have many dog parks local to us and generally speaking we have some well behaved dogs. They stick within the "pack"
Nothing new in my local villages and market towns. 4 dogs maximum for walking and £1000 fine if you ignore and get caught
My dog walker usually has 5-6 dogs on a walk. He always has at least 2 on lead and only lets the ones with a really good recall off lead. I have seen him on walks before and he has control of all the dogs, and always picks up after them. I really think this rule would impact dog walkers income, especially when you take into account travel time etc. I see a lot of people with just 1 dog who have 0 control, don't pick up and are a nightmare. There is a dog where we walk and she will pinch another dogs ball and run off with it. She has knocked the ball out of Harleys mouth before by jumping into her head. Whenever I see this dog I put Harley on lead and grab her ball if I'm quick enough, but often she comes from several fields away and her owner is miles behind her! I have spoken with the owner numerous times but they don't do anything! It's people like these that should be penalised, not responsible owners.
This isn't really about X person is fine with 8, and Y person can't manage 2 though - it's about what, on average, is acceptable. That obviously depends on lots of things, not least whether dog walkers are operating in a busy area, or a quiet area, and how congested the dog walking areas are. Personally, in London, I would struggle to even walk down the pavements with more than two dogs. There just isn't room on packed pavements - both of my dogs have to walk tight to heel if we are not to force other people to walk in the gutter!
It would be very interesting to know what their rationale is, as this article doesn't say. Asking people to prove they have means to pick up after their dogs isn't a new thing, so I'm not sure why it's being touted as such. But Jackie Black responded saying: ‘I agree, how do you poo-pick with six dogs? You only have one pair of hands.’ By that logic, you shouldn't be allowed to walk two dogs together. I wish my dogs coordinated their bowel movements to happen at the same time. Jackie Black is an idiot. For me, three is definitely enough. 95% of the time, I would be fine with more, absolutely, but if something outside of my control were to happen, I wouldn't have enough hands to manage. It's sad there has to be legislation that may penalise someone who has all their dogs under perfect control, but I think that would be a tiny (teeny tiny) minority. I know my standards are far higher than the average dog walker. The flip side of the coin being that I don't have the situations to practice and proof that the average dog owner in the UK might. If they had the inclination. But I think you just have to look at this forum, with so many owner with the best intentions and opportunities to practice, yet still having problems because, well, dogs aren't robots, and you realise that it's very unlikely that someone walking even four dogs will have them under control enough to not worry if x,y or z happened.
I'm gunna be completely honest and say I sometimes struggle with Stanley. On his "usual" walk that we do most days I could easily manage 2. But today for example we took him on a very popular walk that he's never done before - it was dog and child galore and he was a nightmare. He pulled the entire time, his recall was rubbish so he was kept on the lead and I found it quite stressful - especially as we were climbing quite a big hill and when he pulled I was pretty sure he was going to pull me over. If I'd had more than him today I don't think I'd have coped I think in any situation 4+ dogs would be a lot for 1 person to handle. My dog walker has an extra person to help her if she has a large amount of dogs too.
I think four is a perfectly reasonable limit. To be honest, I sometimes struggle to walk one! My local council doesn't seem to have a limit for dog walking but they do have an ownership limit (3 dogs OR 3 cats OR a combination of the two up to maximum of 4 pets). My council has stupid rules though. Like compulsory desexing as it "reduces aggression"
It's the same for me and my dog...I am really looking forward to the day that I can walk both of our dogs at the same time, but for now, I need to have both hands free in case I need to manage some tricky situation properly. He is still way too excitable and strong that if I had another dog with me to manage, even a small calm one, it would be a nightmare.
What about if you personally own four dogs, does that mean you won't be allowed to walk them all together? I don't have a problem with more than 4 dogs being walked together so long as the walker/owner can keep them safe, the public safe, they ARE under control and they pick up poo. Just another law that won't be upheld as who is going to police it? and more restrictions on dog owners/walkers, where will it end? All very unpleasant x
In my City you are only legally allowed to own 3 dogs per dwelling, and the limit for walking is 6 (I believe you must be a registered dog walker to walk that amount though).
A large group of dogs - that all know each other - is a pack, and they behave like a pack. The are braver because they are in a pack, back each other up, and they can very easily intimidate other dogs. Both of my dogs are quite robust, and walk in busy places, and I'm constantly proud of them at how they can meet groups of dog walking packs - often 4 dogs running towards them full pelt - and stay composed, greet friendly dogs, and shrug off ill mannered dogs, and move along without a bother on them. But I'm very glad that the packs are no bigger than 4, that's for sure! Because we very often meet two packs together. And the number of dogs that lose their dog walking pack, and tag along with me until I leave them at the Ranger's office, suggests it's far from the case that most dogs walkers can keep track of 4 dogs as it is!
I have constant sore legs because largely our dogs are walked separately. They all walked together on our private land however. This is despite Benson and Bramble having great recall, it is not 100%. If I walk 2 dogs, it is Bramble and Benson together, not Casper he requires 100% of my attention ALL the time. With my OH we walk all three, but in quiet, very rural areas. In advance we agree who has focus on what dog and what we are planning to work on. So there it is, I can't handle our three dogs on my own in a public area. I don't mind dog walkers, even with more than 4 dogs. They are very good round here, and usually it is a pleasure to meet them. You can see clearly they are focused on their dogs, they always offer a friendly hello though as they pass by. BUT what I really have trouble with is groups of dog walkers, maybe one or two, with a few dogs or more between them. They stand in huddles with dogs, who, well aren't doing anything even worse, don't like each other particularly. That's trouble brewing in my book... So in summary, the 4 dog policy is a bit of a blanket rule, not really getting to the nub of the problem, however, in very highly populated areas (both human and dog,..) it is better than nothing, a small step in the right direction.
I walk my three Labs almost every day, one on the right and two on the left. Polly walks to heel, and the other two wear gentle leader head collars. Apart from the frequent stops for you know what, once you've got into a rhythm, its usually fine, although the collective strength of the three of them seems astounding when they are trying to get at something.
