“Essential Travel”

Sarrf_London said:

Struggle to see how anyone sitting or driving in a car is putting anyone at risk.  I feel safer driving to shops than walking. Eight metre danger, not two.

I would say that applying logic, it must be safer to drive to your nearest shop. For a start, you need to shop with the intention of shopping to a minimum so you may need to buy more than you can carry. Of course  that doesn't mean hoarding specific items. 

This is also a good source of information 

https://newsthump.com/2020/04/10/jesus-and-two-thieves-fined-for-hilltop-gathering-of-more-than-two-people/

SuedeAdidas said:

AFKABartram said:

Are dogs allowed off their leads in parks and recs?

Not in my local park. Have to be kept on lead during social distancing. Not that many are complying with it. 

Same in our communal gardens but if you 'remind' anyone, their dog is ok because it isn't a problem. It's like a lot of things in this lockdown, the rules seem only to apply to others

MuttleyCAFC said:

As a dog owner, my understanding of the rules was they must be kept on a lead. The idea, as I understand it, being if they had to be separated from other dogs, people may have to get closer to each other. 

Yup - it really shouldn’t be difficult to understand eh?

Addickted said:

Where in any of the advice given does it say dogs must be kept on a lead?

I don’t know, but I had it in my head so I’m sure I heard, read it somewhere. Might have been Greenwich Park

A quick google search shows its on the government advice for public spaces

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/coronavirus-guidance-on-access-to-green-spaces

• if walking your dog in areas used by other people, you should walk your dog on a lead to ensure you can safely keep 2 metres away from others. You can find further guidance for pet owners here

I think it is more about increased chances of approaching other people than other dogs. I have encountered dogs off lead that have been a nuisance when walking my dog a couple of times. Some will say, my dog/s are well trained but the rule sadly is there for those that are not sufficiently well trained.

I’ve been letting the dogs off the lead in the local park as long as there are no dogs they don’t know there. About a third of the park is fenced off and no dogs are allowed in. 


 As I have one very old and slow dog on his last legs and one young dog who is just an adolescent (although well trained) this seems fine as if we were all to go at old dogs pace young dog would get no exercise. 

Before being aware of the advice, I should have thought about it more, the dogs were, as they normally would be, off the lead as they are both very good with other dogs and people.

However, the other day there was a Jack Russell we had not seen before off its lead. It was young. It and my young dog had some initially fine play and then the Jack Russell started to get bitey. I put my dogs on the lead and started to leave. The Jack Russell went back to the owner. She did not put her dog on the lead. ‘Oh he’s only a puppy, he’s not biting that hard, he’s just playing’. 

When I used to run a socialisation classes for all age groups one thing that I found is peoples perception of dogs playing is a little off the mark, dogs running up and taking a cheap shot and running off is not play and needs to be dealt with and smiling saying its only a puppy is not dealing with it. Rarely like some people will a dog attack face to face, it will go for more vulnerable spots on the body, the arse end or the under belly smaller dogs are very good at this. Large breeds will try to turn the dog over, restraining the offending dog and then releasing often induces attack. For example, two guys scrapping and his mates get involved and hold him back, they let him go and it all kicks off again, they put him in a cab and its all over. 
I'm not saying I would have your dealt with the situation any different as I wasn't there, nor I'm saying you were wrong so please dont think that @Alwaysneil , but I would try remove my dog from any threatening situation by walking away quickly rarely will the dog follow if it starts to follow sadly a size 9 comes into play I have no qualms about protecting my dogs, putting your hands down means you run the risk of getting bitten by your own dog as it defends itself. Then if the attack persists on grabbing a good hold of the offending dog as I did when Valli was attacked and laying on top of it I released her and dealt with the dog releasing your dog with the other loose could be disasterous. I put this video up of JJ and Valli play fighting, its all noise and teeth but all face to face but I would wager 99.9% of people would not let their dogs play with mine like Bow is. Bowyer however at 8.5 weeks has never seen this type of and runs around almost trying to stop them, then he takes a cheap shot at Valli's tail and gets told, lesson learned. We dont have to get involved they get taught the rules by the grown ups, socialisation is so important  

We often see a rescue Staffie, Luna and both me and her owners know that her and Wilson will have a great time up to a point where Luna gets a bit over excited and their okay shifts up a gear into a fight where Wilson could get hurt or Luna could get hurt as Wilson defends himself.

In normal times I’d say it’s good experience for them both as they learn. Right now, both sets of owners put their dogs on leads as soon as we see each other.