@alfred1963 Hi! I had the opposite experience from you kinda, being from Europe ( Portugal) went to the states (Texas) and noticed how things are in fact different..
To be honest I didn't really see any US dogs misbehaving but I did see lots and lots of dog parks just for dogs! We don't have those! I think those are a great idea! But then I got home and took my Ginja for a walk, I realized that while we don't have those, I can take her to most normal parks or the beach and go off leash there as long as I think I have her kinda under control and there are other dogs there. Fights or quarrels may happen as we do tend to have more whole males around.. I would say the rules are a little more relaxed about it maybe?
Besides the parks I do think European cities are made for walking and not for driving. I lived in LA, NY, Madrid and offcourse Lisbon, and over on our side of the Atlantic I walk to most places and this means we can comfortably walk on a leash and get used to the urban enviornment. I guess what you saw was people who lived in even busier cities with even better behaved dogs so eventually they stopped needing a leash. Specially from my recent visit to Dallas, I didn't see people on the streets since the city is clearly better constructed for driving around...
From my point of view: US DOG PARKS RULE but our cities make it easier to walk around instead of driving which promotes the dog walking and bonding. Makes sense?
To be honest I didn't really see any US dogs misbehaving but I did see lots and lots of dog parks just for dogs! We don't have those! I think those are a great idea! But then I got home and took my Ginja for a walk, I realized that while we don't have those, I can take her to most normal parks or the beach and go off leash there as long as I think I have her kinda under control and there are other dogs there. Fights or quarrels may happen as we do tend to have more whole males around.. I would say the rules are a little more relaxed about it maybe?
Besides the parks I do think European cities are made for walking and not for driving. I lived in LA, NY, Madrid and offcourse Lisbon, and over on our side of the Atlantic I walk to most places and this means we can comfortably walk on a leash and get used to the urban enviornment. I guess what you saw was people who lived in even busier cities with even better behaved dogs so eventually they stopped needing a leash. Specially from my recent visit to Dallas, I didn't see people on the streets since the city is clearly better constructed for driving around...
From my point of view: US DOG PARKS RULE but our cities make it easier to walk around instead of driving which promotes the dog walking and bonding. Makes sense?