Why Dogs Should Never Be Leashed

From today’s Peterborough Examiner, Ontario, Canada, “Park helps spark natural instincts”:

[Canine trainer Karen] Laws invited the public to visit her fenced-in dog walking trail as part of Responsible Dog Ownership day, when dog owners across Canada gather to demonstrate the benefits of obedience training and responsible dog ownership. Letting dogs run free "allows dogs to learn how to be dogs again" said Laws. Being on a leash is restricting and can stress dogs to the point that they lash out, Laws said. By letting them run around and interact with other dogs while their owners are present, the dogs' natural "pack instinct" takes over and dogs become calmer because they instinctively follow their owners' leads instead of being forced on a leash.

Read the whole thing here,

Notes our correspondent:

The Orwellian doublespeak of the off leash dog crazies would now have us believe that off leash = dog obedience training, and responsible dog ownership = not "forcing" dogs to walk on a leash. The asinine anthropomorphism of off leash proponents gets nuttier every day. New Age animal rights imbecility meets human pop-psychobabble with this quote: "Being on a leash is restricting and can stress dogs to the point that they lash out." You gotta be kidding me. Dog fighting sparks natural instincts, too.

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Yesterday, in a circuit around the perimeter drives in Prospect Park beginning around 6:45 A.M., we observed 51 pedestrians and two dog owners. One of the dog owners had two leashed dogs and the other was unleashing a dog on Long Meadow. We saw no other dogs on Long Meadow. 17 pedestrians and both dog owners were white.

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At 3 P.M. today a black dog was cavorting around the Nethermead accompanied by 2 white males. About 10 minutes later, a large brown dog crossed the Lullwater bridge followed at a respectful distance by his white owner, with no leash in sight.