Reader Question: I normally walk with my canine with out a lead on as he doesn’t like to make use of one, however a pal stated this was unlawful. Do you understand if that is actually true? And if I break the rule, what’s the punishment?
With an estimated 7.5 million pet dogs in France, companion canines are common, however they don’t seem to be allowed in all places in France.
In some areas or conditions, having a lead in your pet canine is necessary.
Can dogs be off-lead in cities?
Mayors have the authority to order dogs to be stored on leads of their communes, so the principles can fluctuate from city to city.
“Mayors shall take all appropriate measures to prevent dogs and cats from wandering. They may order that these animals be kept on a lead and that dogs be muzzled,” states Article L211-22 of the French Rural Code.
To be 100% positive of the principles in an space, you possibly can examine the right workplace to contact – by postcode or place title – on the government website here.
Nationally, the Ministry of the Interior web site states that you have to preserve your canine on a lead if it might symbolize, or undoubtedly represents, a hazard or a menace to individuals. This is true for any breed, age, behaviour, or measurement of canine.
Departmental well being rules additionally stipulate that dogs “may only circulate on public roads in urban areas if they are kept on a lead”.
Read extra: Extendable dog leads banned in Paris suburb
Can an proprietor be fined for letting their canine off the lead?
If you don’t adjust to guidelines the place leads are necessary, you danger a tremendous of as much as €33 for non-categorised dogs (canine breeds that aren’t legally thought of harmful).
The tremendous can rise to €75 for categorised dogs (canine breeds thought of to be harmful).
France’s canine categorisation system has two classes, and consists of ‘attack’ and ‘guard and defence’ dogs.
Categorised breeds include purebreds and crosses, particularly American Staffordshire terriers (pitbulls), Mastiffs, and Tosa breeds.
In most circumstances, it’s unlawful to import or breed these dogs in France, and people who do danger a €15,000 tremendous.
Categorised breeds, as outlined above, should all the time be stored on a lead, particularly in public, city areas, but in addition anyplace that they might current a danger of any sort to people or animals.
Owners should additionally adjust to a set of strict guidelines (that may be discovered on the web site linked above) with the intention to preserve their canine, together with identification, sterilisation, insurance coverage, and common behaviour evaluations.
Is there a distinction between ‘off-lead’ and ‘running free’?
If you might be in a devoted area the place you will be sure which you can management your canine’s behaviour and preserve them contained, you possibly can allow them to off-lead.
For instance, in an enclosed pet play space or an enclosed park area with different dogs, or a non-public, securely fenced backyard.
The canine is ‘free’ and off-lead, however beneath supervision.
On the opposite hand, letting your canine ‘run free’ outdoors these sorts of areas is taken into account to be “leaving your dog unsupervised and wandering the streets”, as acknowledged in Article L211-23 of the French Penal Code.
The Code states that any canine is “considered to be wandering” if:
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When not searching, guarding, or defending a herd, and now not beneath the efficient supervision of its proprietor or accountable human
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It is past the vary of the latter’s voice or of any sound instrument enabling it to be known as again
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It is greater than 100 metres away from its proprietor or the person answerable for it
“Any dog left to its own devices is considered to have strayed, unless it was involved in hunting and it can be shown that its owner did not refrain from doing everything in their power to find and retrieve it, even after the hunting had ended,” the code concludes.
If a canine is discovered roaming or “wandering”, the proprietor will be fined.
These guidelines additionally apply to cats.
“Any unidentified cat found more than two hundred metres from a dwelling, or any cat found more than one thousand metres from its owner’s home and not under the owner’s immediate supervision,” is taken into account to be in a state of wandering.
“Any cat whose owner is unknown, and which is seized on the public highway or on the property of another,” can also be thought of to be in the identical state, with the proprietor probably risking a tremendous.
Can you walk your canine off-lead in fields?
The Service Public web site states that it’s strictly forbidden to ‘let your dog roam’ in ‘cultivated areas’.
This consists of in farmland fields, forests, meadows, vineyards, orchards, marshes, and woods; and by streams, ponds, lakes and rivers.
This is to guard the canine from snakes or different animals, to guard the wildlife within the space, and to guard personal land and crops.
A decree from 1955 states that dogs have to be stored on a lead in woods and forests all through France from April 15 to June 30, as that is usually mating and replica season for wild animals.
Contravening this legislation dangers a tremendous of €750, and much more in case your canine is caught searching animals while off its leash.
‘Letting your dog roam’ in these open areas is outlined because the pet being greater than 100 metres away from its proprietor or accountable person.
