Little-known Toronto bylaw aims to keep dogs on a short leash
Parent raised concerns about her toddler son being tripped by a long, retractable leash.

TheStar.com
July 21, 2017

Toronto dog owners were surprised to learn that the city restricts leash lengths to a maximum of two metres, after a parent raised concerns about her toddler son being tripped by a long, retractable leash.

For a bylaw that has been on the books since 1999, it is little-known and even more rarely enforced. Only one ticket under the rule has been issued since 2016, according to the city, and it comes with a $240 fine.

“I’ve never heard of it before,” said Tom Wielocha, owner of 7-month-old pup Potter (yes, as in Harry). He uses a retractable leash for walking Potter, which he thinks can be extended to about 2.4 metres — slightly longer than the bylaw would allow.

“I think it’s kind of dumb, obviously,” Wielocha said of the rule which he thinks the city would have a very difficult time enforcing.

“Mind you I don’t want my dog running that much further than me. I try to keep him side-by-side with me.”

Erin Nespoli, a Toronto parent and a digital analyst for the Star, only learned about the bylaw after her toddler son Olly was knocked down by the extended leash of a playing dog. Olly was shaken up by the incident, but not injured.

It occurred later to Nespoli that had the dog leash wrapped around Olly’s neck instead of his legs, her son could have been seriously injured.

“Maybe the city could do something about it,” she remembered thinking in an interview this week.

She contacted the city and learned that chapter 349 of Toronto’s Municipal Code says that dog leashes used in public may not exceed two metres in length.

“Well that’s useless, nobody knows. Dog owners don’t know,” Nespoli said, recalling her reaction when she learned about the bylaw.

Tammy Robbinson, spokesperson for the city’s animal services department, acknowledged that it is not uncommon to see leashes longer than two metres in the city, and said the department runs a number of public education initiatives aimed at informing dog owners about this and other bylaws.

“Partly because of what happened in this case, we are going to be doing a couple of different pieces,” she said, which will include distributing simple information pamphlets about the bylaws with pet licence renewals.

Some dog owners think that, whether or not people are aware of the bylaw, they should simply take care and be respectful of others when walking their furry friends.

“Our puppy training school didn’t allow for the retractable leashes,” said Alice Gammill, who uses a regular 1.2 metre-leash (four feet) to walk her dog, Audrey. “With these you have more control.”

“I think it’s up to dog owners to have that common sense,” she said.

Danielle Wintrip, who owns two dogs, said that the bylaw “makes sense” because of the dangers long leashes could pose, but she’s not sure that the rule works as a deterrent.

“People who are going to ignore the bylaw are going to ignore it whether it’s a bylaw or not,” she said.

Robbinson said that part of the reason the bylaw is rarely enforced is that staff who go out into the community prioritize educating people about the rules over issuing tickets and fines.

Meanwhile, the widespread availability of long and retractable leashes may send the implicit message that they are allowed, which poses a challenge for the city.

“The thing is, the city doesn’t have any control over what retail establishments sell,” Robbinson said. “So they can sell what they want.”