Recently I have been engaged in quite a few discussions about off-leash versus leashed dogs. 

Most leash laws use language similar to “under control by leash”. The term leash is never actually defined, however, so there is some wiggle room in terms of what an individual might use. A quick search through the dictionary gives you a few different options.

• A restraint consisting of a rope (or light chain) used to restrain an animal
• A leash or a lead or lead line is a rope or similar material attached to the neck or head of an animal for restraint or control
• A leash or lead is a length of rope, leather, chain or other flexible material ostensibly for restraint or control.

According to these definitions, I could restrain my dog using an old necktie and as long as she was “ under control” my dog is considered leashed. By this logic anyone walking his or her dog on a string or rope of some sort automatically has control because the dog is in fact on a leash. 

As dog owners we spend time and energy to teach our dogs basic obedience commands. Sit. Stay. Lie down. Heel. Come. Sometimes, if your dog is stubborn or has behavioral issues, a professional trainer has to be consulted. It is both for our safety and the dog’s safety that these commands are necessary. Despite all this there are some alarming statistics out there regarding dog bites.

• Dogs bite nearly 2% of the U.S. population — more than 4.7 million people annually
• Dog bites send nearly 368,000 victims to hospital emergency departments per year (1,008 per day)
• An American has a one in 50 chance of being bitten by a dog each year.
• The vast majority of biting dogs (77%) belong to the victim’s family or a friend. (CDC)

Even trained police dogs are involved in off-duty attacks despite their high level of obedience training. Just last week the Boston Globe reported that a woman walking her Chihuahua was attacked by a police dog.

If a skilled and trained police officer doesn’t have complete control over his dog, what makes people think their own dog would never misbehave? I get extremely frustrated when I encounter dog owners who say their dog is obviously trained better than mine because they’ve never had an incident while their dog was off-leash.

To ALL dog owners (because it is easy to forget sometimes) I’d like to echo a statement I recently read on a blog from the San Francisco Chronicle:

Dogs are unpredictable 

Please do not assume yours is the world’s best trained dog. In fact go ahead and throw out ALL those assumptions. Stick to the facts. Dogs are animals. Like humans they have basic genetic instincts that at some point will rise to the surface. You can’t train out the instinct to chase a rodent (even if its just fake fur hanging around someone’s neck). At best, you can take steps to control the behavior, but you’ll never eliminate it altogether.