Prague is preparing a ban on walking dogs without a leash
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A decree is being issued in the capital that would practically ban the free movement of dogs in public greenery. The proposal was prepared by the Department of Environmental Protection of the Prague City Hall and will be dealt with by the council and the council.
“A person accompanying a dog in public greenery is obliged to lead the dog on a leash. The dog must be guided on a leash in such a way that the leash does not impede the movement of other users of public greenery. Free movement of dogs without a leash is allowed only on areas reserved for this purpose by the owner of public greenery, “says the proposal, which is available to the editors.
According to the authors of the proposals, he has no dogs without a leash, who were attacked by people, as happened this spring, when a dog on Prague’s Petrin Hill seriously bit a four-year-old boy.
“Even with regard to the recent attack of a child by a dog in a park on Petřín with serious consequences and other similar incidents, a solution was chosen that dogs will have to be kept on a leash in public greenery,” the explanatory memorandum to the draft decree states.
The planned ban on walking dogs without a leash is hidden in the proposal for new vegetables, a generally binding decree on the protection of public greenery. ‘It cannot be traced in public now – the town hall posted it only for the necessary time during the comment procedure.
“The draft decree has undergone an internal and external comment procedure and has not yet been submitted to the public for comments,” said Vít Hofman, a spokesman for the municipality, after the publication of the article.
Rules for dogs in European capitals
From 2019, all ‘potentially dangerous dogs’ must be constantly on a leash and at the same time wearing the muzzle, which are the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier, the English Bull Terrier, the Neapolitan and Spanish Mastiffs, the Tosa-Inu, the American Pit Bull Terrier, the Rottweiler and the Great Dane. In addition, owners of these dogs must not have more than 0.5 per mille of alcohol in their blood when walking.
Dogs must be on a leash only in designated areas, such as royal parks, including Hyde Park. Breeding of four breeds is completely forbidden: American Pit Bull Terrier, Tosa inu, Great Dane and Brazilian Fila.
In addition to the marked places, dogs must be on a leash everywhere. In parks, the leash can be up to two meters long, on the street a maximum of a meter.
The rules differ in different parts of the city. In all parts of the city, there are also destinations for walking dogs without a leash.
Comments are now being incorporated by municipal officials, mostly from individual city districts. Then the proposal must be discussed by the city council and finally approved by the whole council. The draft decree is effective from 1 October 2021.
According to the councilor for the environment, Petr Hlubuček, however, the council will not be able to approve it so quickly. “This decree is still in the comment procedure, the received comments are settled. He will not be at the council in September, “said Hlubuček News List when asked.
Strictly speaking, free running of dogs in “public greenery” is banned today. But public greenery means a well-defined list of plots. A significant part of green areas does not officially fall into this definition, they are listed in the cadastre as arable land or other areas. This is the case, for example, with a part of the Central Park in Chodov or in Stodůlky, where dogs are allowed to run freely.
However, the new draft decree stipulates that ‘public greenery’ will be considered in any way a green area on the capital’s land, including housing greenery, tree lines, various meadows and fields and paths between them.
It would be possible to release the dog freely only in the places explicitly designated by the city. According to critics of the proposal, it could happen that in some areas there would be no greenery where it would be possible to walk the dog freely.
How many dogs are in Prague?
According to the data of the Department of Trade Licensing and Civil Administration of the City of Prague. At the end of last year, a total of 90,183 dogs and 82,949 breeders were registered. However, a large number of dogs are reported by their owners due to lower fees outside the capital, other dogs are not registered at all.
“For example, the decree states that the owner of public greenery is entitled to reserve areas in public greenery where dogs are allowed to run freely without a leash. It is therefore justified, not obligatory. I doubt that the city districts will be delimited by every lawn in front of the house, “notes lawyer Barbora Limrová from the civic association Strana psa, which is protesting against the proposed decree.
In addition, according to the new version of the decree, dogs should be explicitly tied to a leash. “In the case of the ban on free movement of dogs, there has been uncertainty as to whether the dog must be kept on a leash, whether it can be kept free at the feet of the accompanying person or whether it can move further away from that person if it is fully controllable by command, “They remind the authors of the proposal.
They don’t like dogs
Critics of the proposal claim that these are other people who simply do not like dogs. And that – as usual – they submitted the proposal during the summer holidays, which in conjunction with the covid led to the fact that many people did not register the draft decree at all.
“A de facto identical proposal was discussed, for example, in 2015, but then negotiations took place at the municipality in the presence of experts, and the Dog Party association also took part. When all the comments were discussed, the proposal was swept off the table and it was stated that the current arrangement is completely satisfactory, “says Limrová.
The last time a similar proposal went bankrupt in 2017. The main reason at the time was that some of the 57 city districts opposed it, or simply did not provide a list of places where dogs could run freely.
“It is necessary to realize that a stricter decree will not prevent excesses. It will only reduce the decent ones. The owners of those really problematic animals are usually problems themselves. And you will not be interested in the decree, “says lawyer Limrová.
According to dog breeders, it is also demonstrable that the restriction of movement and constant guidance on a leash in some dogs, on the contrary, increases aggression.
“While the dogs with their aggressive after clamping on the leash, still free are completely calm. In most cases, it is a fear aggression, where the dog creates a so-called safe space around him as a preventive attack. At leisure, the same dog can correct the safe distance from an unknown subject so that he would rather retreat than attack. On a narrow sidewalk, especially if it is a large dog and a weak handler, the leash often can not walk or protect another dog in the opposite direction, “says a lawyer from the Dog Party.
The Ministry requires a rewrite of the proposal
After publishing the article, the municipality’s spokesman Vít Hofman specified what it now looks like with the creation of the decree. The original proposal, according to which it will have to change significantly, the comments of the Ministry of the Interior showed, for example, that areas for the free movement of dogs must be directly stated in the decree, for example in the form of maps.
“It will therefore be necessary to create such an overview of areas for the free movement of dogs. At the same time, we are also dealing with the intention to adjust the rules for the movement of dogs in the city comprehensively, ie not only in public greenery, but also in other public spaces – especially in the streets and squares, “said the spokesman.
According to him, Prague is not planning an absolute ban on the free movement of dogs, the new decree should in principle maintain the current situation, where the ban on the free movement of dogs does not actually apply on a large number of green areas.
“We are aware that the free movement of dogs is a physiological need for many breeds, and even within the specifics of the Prague agglomeration, it is therefore necessary to maintain the possibility of free movement of dogs in selected areas,” the spokesman added.