…in Germany, which has ten million dogs. The best thing about the place is that dogs are allowed everywhere and tend to be well treated. I don’t disagree with the law, but why was there such a need to pass it? Western common law often treats dogs like mere possessions, when any divorcing couple would tell you otherwise. Is this finally giving the dog his day?
I read about this yesterday. The idea of enforcing responsibility in dog ownership sounds good on the face of it - but it’s an hour, twice a day. Many small and older dogs just won’t be up to it. It sounds like a very blunt instrument.
Only two walks a day? Our dogs would be sad with that sort of a cut back.
There are people with active dogs who don’t give them anything close to the physical activity they need for optimum health and happiness.
There are also plenty of people with couch potatoesque breeds that don’t need or want that much activity, not to mention dogs and owners with physical impairments who can’t meet such standards.
Promoting awareness of dogs’ needs sounds a lot better than bludgeoning people by means of a dubiously enforceable law.*
*I’d say this sounds like the sort of law PETA enthusiasts would lobby for, except they’d be more in favor of banning pet dogs altogether.
Who is going to report you? Are the dogs going to tell the cats so the cats can get on the Internet to the dog-walking enforcers?
Covid-19, and this is what they’re passing laws about?
They’ll have to keep a log now. You know Germans and their paperwork.
Yea , I’m wondering how it will be enforced.
While I certainly could use 2 hours of walking per day. I’m 100% certain I’d end up carrying my 200 pound mastiff for at least the last 30 minutes. Even when he was full of puppy energy playing with other dogs he was done after 30 minutes. Now, getting him to walk to the far side of the yard to do his business before coming back in to his bed and his bone is a chore of course he’s almost 10…
NPR Article:
It seems like it’s something that should be a public service campaign (“walk your dog!”) that’s being made a law instead.
You call in a complaint about your neighbor’s dog barking all day. Animal control investigates, asks if you see them walking the dog. You and other neighbors all say you’ve never seen them walking the dog, it’s always tied…
I think it is just another tool to try to get people to do what they should be doing.
Perhaps some sort of dog walking gestapo could enforce the law.
It’s an hour total, with two walks a day. That’s not exactly grueling. But you are of course right that some dogs won’t be up to it.
I think laws like this are dumb because they’re mostly unenforceable. I’m sure it’s a problem that some people don’t give their dogs enough exercise, but this is probably not a good way to solve that problem.
It’s a proposal, not something already passed.
It’s an hour total, divided into at least two periods.
It’s time outside a kennel, not necessarily a walk on a leash. Letting the dog out into an enclosed yard would count.
If that counts as walking your dog my backyard dog has nothing to worry about, he spents 50% of his day running back and forth between the fences trying to see the neighbors dogs.
I love dogs, but this is stupid. As others have mentioned, it should be a public service campaign instead of a law that is both unenforceable and in many cases infeasible or unnecessary. For example, if you have a farm or a large plot of land, the dog can happily get his own exercise, especially if you play catch-the-frisbee or whatever with him once or twice a day. Or how about working dogs that actually work, such as herding farm animals? Or dogs that are too old or too sick for that exercise routine? There are so many exceptions that the thing is ridiculous.
Owners of dogs with disabilities will be required to install whatever accommodations they require. 
I wonder if carrying a micro-dog in your backpack would qualify as walking him for an hour a day.
The actual proposed law, as others have said, actually means letting your dog out of their kennel for at least an hour a day. Working dogs would be fine. Even dogs in apartments would be fine, because they can at least walk around their apartment, even if it’s a tiny one.
It just means “don’t lock your dogs up in a kennel or crate 23 hours a day.” That is a very basic level of good animal care.
It might still be hard to enforce, but the actual proposed law is far different to the way it’s being interpreted.
Yeah, this.
No-one is going to notice that Joe Schmo (or Hans Schmanz) only took his dog out 10 times in the last 6 days. However, people can notice a dog leashed to a fence all day, and such an owner will know he’s abusing his pet to an illegal degree.
I live in a country where the very concept of pet ownership seems poorly understood: China. Even people who think of themselves as good owners treat their pets appallingly (e.g. I let my dog off the lead once and another dog attacked it, so now I keep it locked in a shed most of the day every day 
). I’d certainly be all for such a law here.
here in ca you cant have your dog on a leash or chain for ore than 4 hours a day with exceptions …(unfriendly.escape artist ect)