When Is On Leash Not Effective Control?

[dee lee]

My kids are allowed to walk Honey to school (5 min walk). However, she is very well behaved onlead & I am right there ready to take charge if necessary. I think it's a good thing to teach them to walk her safely (so when they are old enough they are able to have "effective control") but they are never allowed to do it without me.

Most if the time they don't want to anyway because Honey spends the whole time looking for me!

[Staranais]

If the person (of any size) can't physically control the dog they are walking if it were to decide to drag them after something, then I wouldn't call that foolproof control? In that case it's no difference to being off leash, really. The dog might be under verbal control, but there's no guarantee it won't chase something if it decides to ignore the owner.

[raineth]

If the person (of any size) can't physically control the dog they are walking if it were to decide to drag them after something, then I wouldn't call that foolproof control? In that case it's no difference to being off leash, really. The dog might be under verbal control, but there's no guarantee it won't chase something if it decides to ignore the owner.

unless I'm mistunderstanding you, that means that virtually nobody could walk giant dogs

I have one dog who is the same as my weight and one who is ten kgs more than my weight. And these dogs are only 'small' giants. What about people with English Mastiff's who weigh more than 100 kgs? There are really not going to be that many people around who are going to physically be stronger than an English Mastiff.