Author note: The body of this post was an Op-Ed I wrote for an environmental writing class. The purpose of the class was to learn how to effectively communicate environmentally-focused arguments in an era where the climate crisis is over expansive and largely disregarded. For this Op-Ed project, we had to select a local issue that involved the environment in order to reach a small, specific demographic and provide them with a reasonable call to action. Where I live (Salt Lake City, UT), there is an increasing prevalence of dog owners ignoring posted leash regulations and I wanted to highlight the reasoning behind those regulations in an effort to help them be understood instead of ignored.
You are not alone if you have ever had the feeling that your dog would enjoy a bit of unrestricted freedom in nature after having been cooped up in the house all day. It’s hard not to feel guilty about it as we share an innate sense of responsibility for our pets’ emotional well-being and for most of us, there is not really a great alternative to leaving our pets home alone during the workday.
By letting our well-trained pups off their leash at the park, on the trail, or in the front country wilderness, we feel as though we are doing good for our animals, reducing some of the guilt we may feel. The problem is that our perception of their happiness so often overshadows the risks to our dogs’ safety, the safety of others, and the damage inflicted on our already struggling environment.
Many people around the globe have experienced the agony of losing their unleashed pets to unforeseen risks, including owners in our own backyards. Recently, six dogs passed away in the Salt Lake City area after being allowed to roam freely around and consume from a nearby body of water.
Some may think that their dogs are sufficiently trained to avoid dangerous situations and will listen to their owner’s direction, but regardless of a dog’s training, their safety can be improved by closely controlling them with a leash. We can allow our dogs to happily do the things they wish outdoors and having them on a leash allows owners to protect them from danger and protect the environment, for example, keeping them from drinking from a source you would not reasonably drink out of.
Putting natural safety risks aside, there is a potential that your dog will approach or startle someone who does not share your affinity for dogs and may act irrationally by harming your pet in perceived self-defense.
The safety of other people as well as their own pets is also partially dependent on dogs properly being leashed. While most of us would like to believe that our dogs are never the problem, any dog can bite or instigate violence. When your dogs are roaming freely, you have inherently less control over their actions and will not be able to respond as quickly as you could with them leashed. If for some reason the impossible happens, and your dog attacks or harms another person or pet, it makes you liable for any potential damages, something that most of us would reasonably like to avoid.
An often-overlooked topic is the effect that our domestic animals can have on local environments. Most of us share the understanding that it is an owner’s responsibility to manage and remove any waste generated by pets. This becomes particularly challenging and easily missed for owners that let their animals roam off-leash. There is a reasonable possibility that your pet will deposit its waste somewhere that you either cannot see or even reasonably get to. This waste in particular is damaging to the ecosystems we try to maintain in our shared nature areas.
The act of roaming off-path (or especially off-trail) on its own contributes to negative effects on the natural environment, ranging from wildlife disturbance and displacement to contamination of water sources that more often than not supply public demands. It is our responsibility to make sure our pets are following the same guidelines we should be following in order to avoid additional damage to our wilderness areas.
Acknowledging the benefits of off-leash training, proponents of roaming and training professionals alike do not suggest that dogs should be off-leash outside of a controlled environment. We are lucky to have safely regulated off-leash areas for the sole purpose of providing this ability for our animals.
For the safety of our pets, our community, and our beautiful yet fragile environment, please recognize the leash requirements wherever you are with your pet, follow the requirements that are posted, and if you are unsure what the requirements are or none are posted, default to using a leash.
