[nagdu] guide dog and parents issue

[Debby Phillips]

I hate to tell you this, but there are dogs who probably never 
get to run and play freely.  And they are fine.  They get enough 
work with guiding to get exercise.  Sure, in an ideal world, it 
would be great for dogs to get to run and play off leash.  But it 
just DOESN'T happen always.  My first dog didn't get those 
opportunities, I lived in an apartment, no fenced yard, and so 
she did not get those opportunities.  My third dog rarely got 
those opportunities either, same reason.  By then I was a little 
looser with what my dogs could and couldn't do, but still I had 
no fenced yard, so only when I went to visit my parents who did 
have a fenced yard was she able to run and play.  Now that I'm 
married and a home owner things are different.  But truly dogs 
survive and do quite well, whether they get to run off-leash or 
not.  I think that what you just wrote could be dangerous.  It 
might lead to someone with a brand new dog to let that dog be off 
leash in an unsafe place, thinking that they are allowing the dog 
freedom.

Do I think it's great that dogs can be off-leash? Yes, but is it 
a necessity? No.    Peace,    Debby and Neena