Headstrong little dog walks itself, owner slapped with a ticket: 110 euro fine
AD journalist Amarins Siccama
In the early morning, a passerby in The Hague had to do a second look. Is that really a French bulldog walking down the street all alone?
The little dog was walking around unsupervised and was easy to catch. However, the owner was nowhere to be seen, making it unclear how long the dog had been walking around alone and exactly where it came from. The animal police were called in to take the dog in and find out who the owner was. Together with the animal, they therefore went looking for the owner, hoping that he would be nearby or could be found quickly. Once they arrived at the owner's house, it turned out that he didn't mind his four-legged friend taking a morning walk on his own. The animal police thought otherwise and issued a fine of 110 euros. In addition, they made it clear that a dog must never walk on the street unsupervised and that an owner always remains responsible for this, regardless of how familiar an animal is with its surroundings. They are calling on all dog owners to acknowledge that dogs running loose can pose risks and that it is simply not permitted to let your dog walk alone on the street.
Off-leash dogs undesirable
Linette Eveleens of the Den Haag Animal Ambulance explains what the potential risks might be. In most cases we encounter, the dog owner chooses not to send a dog out on the street alone. It mainly concerns dogs that escape or get startled by something and run away as a result. Especially in the coming period, when fireworks will be set off again, we expect this to occur more frequently. According to her, the situation with the unleashed bulldog is exceptional. I cannot recall ever having had a dog here whose owner thought: you go ahead and go out on your own.
What we sometimes experience is a dog boarding a bus or tram
Linette Eveleens, Animal Ambulance The Hague
According to Eveleens, letting your dog run loose independently is not recommended. For example, they could cross a busy road or come into contact with other animals. If they walk towards a dog that is on a leash and does not like other dogs at all, things can go wrong quite quickly. Unexpected situations also occur. What we sometimes experience is a dog boarding a bus or tram. Then, of course, he is suddenly very far from home, something that most dog owners experience as a nightmare.
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