MUNICIPALITIES across Canada have done an exemplary job providing professional dog walkers, owners and the general public with access to designated, dog-friendly parkland. All of this beautiful space is ours to use freely, but with some important safety caveats.
On-leash areas include public-use parks and trails and, of course, sidewalks. Keep dogs leashed at all times, without exception, in these areas. There are a quantity of excellent reasons why this law must be upheld.
Designated off-leash areas include designated dog parks and green, woodchip or pea-gravel spaces. Most have city-built fencing to keep the dogs safely inside the boundaries to eliminate the incidence of bolting or lost dogs.
Check your City’s bylaws to find out more about municipal requirements.
Leashing dogs in these areas is each walker’s legal responsibility. Allowing a dog off-leash in an on-leash area poses risk to the dog, other walkers and their dogs.
Scenario 1: If your roaming dog loses control and injures another dog or person, you are financially liable for all damage, and the dog may suffer legally-imposed consequences as well (ie: muzzle order, dangerous dog order, etc.).
Scenario 2: If your roaming dog makes other dogs to react to him/her, causing injury, then the walker of the injuring dog is financially liable for any damage resulting from your negligence. The dog will also be held accountable.
The nicest dogs in the world are capable of reacting spontaneously to stimuli they see as a threat, and teeth are teeth, no matter the breed.
Please keep dogs leashed in on-leash environments.