Legal Age to walk a Dog?

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

My auntie and I were talking the other night and she mentioned that she lets her son (11) walk their Chow/Husky. She was going on about how it is illegal for children under 12 to walk a dog here in Surrey, BC. I think this is not fair, but I also think its a good idea. An 8 year old child walking a dog, whether aggressive or not, probably couldnt control the dog if it started running, lunging at people/dogs etc. Like for instance, there is this teen (about 15) that lives in my apartment building with his parents. They have a HUGE pitty/mastiff cross. One night, the kid was walking him and he lunged at the security guard. The SPCA was phoned and the parents were told that the kid is never allowed to walk the dog again - and if he's caught, the dog will be seized and possibly euthanized. The parents can control the dog, just not him.

Now, what about the responsible teens that CAN control their dogs? I think its unfair to them. Any dog can be unpredictable, it doesnt matter whos holding the leash. Alot of teens around here own aggressive Rotties, Pits and Dobes - all for the sake of looking *hard-core*.

Do you have a legal age for walking dogs?

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

[Miss Z]

Seriously? That is a weird law. I know some dogs can be headstrong and some do escape, but surely people can decide for themselves how they walk their dog?

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I don't know if there is a law like that around here. I think it's a reasonable law though. I think a kid should be allowed to walk their dog as long as they can handle it. However, if the child is young then an adult should be with him while he is walking the dog.

[buttercup132]

What is the world coming to...? They are trying to control how we walk our dogs now?

[caseysmom]

I see the advantages to this, my neighbors have 2 goldens, one is pretty dog aggressive. Once their daughter was walking her, mom was walking the other one and another dog was in a yard and the golden took off with the 11 year old in tow, the golden bit the other dog. The dog could have gotten in a lot of trouble but luckily the people who owned the bitten dog didn't pursue.

[Corinna]

I guess i have a problem with it as I started trainng and showing dogs at age 9 Springers were bigger than me. Also we live out in the country our pets went every where with us nothing to have 3 kids and 6-7 dogs around.

[sammy101]

no i dont think we do. I'm 15 and i can control my 2 great.They're both very strong dogs and i can handle them.I guess it depends if the teen can control there dog/s properly.IMO,i dont think a 10 year old should be walking larger dogs.Like you said,incase they lunge at people/dogs and if they run after something.They should be with a parent if they want to take the dog for a walk.

[Suki Wingy]

I almost wish we had that law here, I walked my fear biter when I was nine every day and I know she linged/nipped several people, just for passing on the other side of the sidewalk

[k9krazee]

Wow, I didn't know there were such laws!!

When I was seven I got my Rottie, Shadow. I would take her for walks and people would roll down there windows and always ask who was walking who because I was teeny and she was well, huge! It makes total sense though because there were many times that if she wanted to do something, go somewhere, chase a squirrell there wasn't much I could do to stop her!

[Jessika]

I don't believe we have any laws regarding ages to walk dogs, but I must say it would definitely be a good thing. I remember being about 7 or 8 years old once after the flood when we were living in apartments and we had to walk Perdy instead of just letting her into the backyard. Well I was a little kid, Perdy saw a squirrel... and TOOK OFF. I was so afraid to let go of the leash that she drug me across the pavement and I got scratched up pretty bad!!

But the worst thing of all was going back to the apartment to my mom and being afraid to tell her what had happened because I thought I would get in trouble because she ran off and I couldn't find her.

Perdy was a larger dog too though, about 100 pounds. She was a VERYYYYY well behaved dog and very obedient usually too, but I'm sure you all know how even the most well-behaved dogs will forget all training when they see a squirrel or cat outside..

So you know, I think having an age law to walk dogs, if not only by weight, would be an EXCELLENT idea. the "unthinkable" happened to me, but thankfully the only person who was hurt was myself. But what if a kid is walking an aggressive dog that gets loose and hurts someone or another animal because they weren't strong enough or couldn't control the dog??

I don't think its necessarily a problem of a kid having verbal control over the dog so much as PHYSICAL control over a dog. I'm sorry but even some grown men/women have a hard time controlling 100+ lb dogs when they want to do what THEY want to do, you know?

[king2005]

I wish that law was back in my home town.

I saw a 7yr old walk her dog to near death! She didn't understand what she was doing wrong, but the limp dog proved that children shouldn't be walking dogs.

I don't know HOW many dogs go away from kids & I'm not talking large dogs either. So many if not most were NOT friendly. I had to kick so many dogs its not funny. I even had to kick a JRT, as it tried to attack the weak old dog I was walking. The kid was about 9, His mother came out of the house & yelled at me & I said if stop talking I wont call the police & say tour dog attacked us (which it did). That dog came at me 3 other times... They no longer have a dog, they were forced to get rid of it.

My old dog was attacked by a JRT on a walk, a Golden on our walk & some kind of a lab mix & several other smaller dogs, ALL were walked by kids!

My parents wouldn't let my sister walk our dog until she was strong & old enough. The first time she walked him while we were camping was her last for many years. Max was 6 & he tried to take on 2 grown men (honestly it was a good thing, hes wasn't a bad dog, he was just VERY protective), he didn't try to pull away from my sister, but she didn't know what to do, she ran back crying.

[Crazy-Cat-Lover]

I have seen many, many teens and younger kids that can handle dogs in ANY situation. I guess there are just a few bad apples that have no clue what to do if one of these situations (the ones I mentioned) should arise. I think that if a child has proved that they can handle their dog, they should be allowed to walk them. One time me and my sister were with our cousin (11) and our little brother (9) - I was walking Thor (Rottweiler), My sister was walking Buddy (Golden Retriever) and my cousin was walking his dog Max (Chow/Husky). A bylaw officer stopped and asked us to show him our dog licenses (the City of Surrey deals with this, NOT the SPCA). He never said anything about my cousin being young and walking Max.

I checked the Surrey bylaw website and they didnt mention anything about age restrictions. Maybe it is a new law, but I never personally heard of it until my Auntie said that.