MADAM,

We would like to bring to the attention of all dog walkers, the importance of not letting your off-lead dogs harass dogs on a lead.

Our dog is very poorly with inflammatory bowel disease and suffers from acute anxiety as a result. Although previously always an off-lead dog, unfortunately he now has to stay on the lead at all times in case he finds and eats discarded food which then makes him very ill. We also try hard to keep stress to a minimum as this exacerbates his condition leading to an IBD flare-up.

Unfortunately from time to time we encounter people who allow their off-lead dog to race up to him and behave in an overly pushy full-on forceful manner, sometimes bouncing around him barking and even growling aggressively.

When we try to move our dog away, scoot the other dog away or ask the owner to call their dog back, we are sadly often verbally abused with aggressive shouts of; "why don’t you just let your dog off the lead and let him be a dog" or "he’s just being a dog" or the most used "oh they’re just being friendly".

We appreciate that everyone wants their dog to be free to enjoy themselves but they need to understand that an on-lead dog should be allowed to enjoy themselves too, without the interference of an over-enthusiastic off-lead dog riding roughshod over them and spoiling their walk. 

We have even tried using the Yellow Dog range of bandanas and tabards but have found most people take no notice.

We have befriended some lovely people while out walking, people who were considerate enough to keep their dogs under control when first spotting ours was on a lead and then continuing to do so, resulting in calm enjoyable meetings for all the dogs involved.

We all think we know best and we believe thats true, but only for our own dogs and certainly not for other people’s.

We feel awful having to keep our dog on a lead, especially as he was always allowed to run free before becoming ill. It is not ideal by any means, but unfortunately it is very much a necessity for his health and well-being.

We are not expecting people to agree or understand, but please please before you judge people with on-lead dogs, please remember that there may be a very good reason why and respect other people’s choices.

From two very disillusioned dog walkers and one very fed-up dog.

(Name and address supplied)