Sorry, but give me a break...in England dogs walk with their owners into pubs. And in public parks, and on the sidewalks. The reason dogs in America are so unruly is because they don't get enough freedom and exercise. In Africa people will laugh at you when they see a dog on a leash, because they've never heard of the concept of 'walking' your dog--you just walk WITH your dog, and he trots alongside. I can walk my dog for 2 hours a day but he will get home and still pace the house. He is only calm, not barking, and not digging after he's had a good hour of off leash romping and playing. Dog parks are virtually useless for us. We get to the dog park and he's just not interested in other dogs, so he doesn't get any exercise. He likes to sniff and run at a fast pace (faster than I can run!). I'm moving to Sacramento in a couple weeks from Tucson, where we (illegally) let our dogs run through the desert washes for an hour every day, and nobody bothers us. He is healthy, happy, and sane. I'm worried about moving; are we going to be persecuted? I'd be curious to know how many dog attacks have happened as a result of dogs being off their leashes. The vast majority of attacks I know about are by dogs who are mistreated, never walked, and escape from their yards to unleash their frustrations on people. People who let their dogs off the leash to run are generally good owners with good dogs. This is a human problem, not the dogs.