If you are a dog owner, you’ve probably wondered more often about the issue of taking them for a walk. A dog is an animal that likes everything and needs to run and enjoy some freedom. A happy pet is a runaway pet. How do you reconcile it with the crowded city streets? Do our four-legged friends have to walk around the city on a leash and muzzle?

Are there laws that tell owners how to walk a dog?

Yes and no. General guidelines can be found in the Animal Protection Act, art. 10a of the Act says that it is forbidden to let dogs go without being able to control them and without any marking enabling identification of the owner or guardian.

Similar, but wider, because they apply to all pets, we can find in the Code of Petty Offenses, art. 77 says: whoever does not observe the usual or prescribed precautions when holding an animal, shall be subject to a fine of up to PLN 250 or a reprimand. As you can easily see, none of the laws categorically indicates that the dog should be on a leash. The condition is common sense, appropriate labeling and controllability by the owner.

Doesn’t the dog need a leash then?

The answer to this question can really be found in the local laws. It is the individual municipalities that determine the rights and obligations that are imposed on the owners of four-legged residents. Each commune in Poland should have regulations that determine how our pet can move around it during a walk.

Walking the dog and the law

For example, the city of Warsaw stipulates in the regulations that in areas intended for shared use, dogs should be walked on a leash, and animals that are aggressive or may pose a threat to the environment, also in muzzles and under the care of people who will ensure control over them. In 2018, the City Council clarified the provisions enabling the dog to be released from a leash, thus replacing a vague statement in places less frequented. Currently, dogs can run freely if they are marked and under the strict control of the owner or guardian. The guardian should, however, pay attention to the safety of other people, animals and road users.

More stringent regulations in this respect are in force in Krakow and Wroclaw. There, dogs should be walked on a leash in places intended for public use, and additionally in a muzzle if they belong to an aggressive breed, or are aggressive. Freely dogs can run only in fenced areas of dog paddocks and less frequented by people, but only in the muzzle and under the supervision of a guardian.

As you can see above, the issue of walking dogs is individual for each place. Before traveling with a four-legged friend, you should pay special attention to how local law addresses this issue. When we leave the city and feel the call of freedom, we often want the same call to be shared by our pet. Fortunately, there are many places outside the crowded streets of Polish cities where it is possible.