Lol, you're so desperate for your narrative to fit.

I also live in a condo. Something like 80% of the people in my building are pet owners, and pretty much everyone is a friend to animals. We don't leave doors propped open. There is the slightest of chances that all three doors between my dog and the outside fail, nobody is around to stop him, and he suddenly develops a lust for adventure. That, however, is an incredibly unreasonable situation. If I was worried about something that unlikely then I would probably also have agoraphobia or something. There's no way on earth I'd use a vending machine, that's for sure. Those things can kill you!

There is an acceptable level of risk for everything. If we only engaged in 0-risk activities then we wouldn't ride in automobiles, own kitchen knives, shower, or even eat. I think the most responsible thing people can do is assess their own risk and act accordingly. There is effectively a 0% chance my dog is able to reach the outside without supervision, so I have decided to not leave his harness on 24/7. Your circumstances may be different, and I respect that. I'm not going to try to shame you into my way of life. Because that would be silly.

Who doesn't take their underwear off? Always for love, never from fear man

Yep. My dog doesn’t need a collar, no other reason. But she has a harness because it’s the leash law. She doesn’t run off, she doesn’t leave the yard… why put a collar on her that does nothing more than become an ornamental with personal info. I value my privacy, trained my dog to be better… tell me why she needs a collar?! I just want to say, “You know what, your dog runs away because she doesn’t have freedom!” Hah

Anyway, glad I’m not alone in my version of crazy. Hah

Everybody knows that rule #18 is to limber up.

Lol, thanks, that's what I was going for. Not whatever (gestures to the other thread) that is.

Mine only has a harness for walking. She also has a microchip, and doesn't run away, even if we leave the door open. Everytime we're out though the harness goes on.

I took my dog's collar off back in '19 and have not seen it since. She wears her harness when we are out of the house. She is chipped, has a GPS tracker on her harness, as well as an airtag inside of her harness.

For me it depends on the dog. Some can be trusted to stay with you no matter what and only need a collar as a social cue. Others need a gps tracker attached to them even during bathtime.

Weird I only wear one at home

I received a few reports on the conversations in this thread, and although heated and certainly divisive, seems to remain civil, and thus I haven't taken any action.

Please remember to mention the rule broken when reporting content, and although I encourage you to keep reporting content you believe violates the rules, avoid reporting content simply because you disagree with it (unless it's a topic explicitly banned by the rules).

I am proud of the level of civility you were able to retain even in very divisive topics. I encourage open conversation without hostility, and disagreeing is part of conversation. You can even agree to disagree, and some topics may have no right answer, and / or more research may be needed to decisively answer a question.

I don't think they're necessarily "extremists". Different cultures, different countries, different legislations, and different dogs create varied opinions on the topic of collars and harnesses.

Here in Montreal, IIRC dogs above 40 lbs must be in a harness and wear a collar at all times when out in public, and must be held on a leash no longer than 6ft outside of designated area. They must wear their license, be microchipped and be neutered unless you get a special permission.

Having a border collie, if I left his harness on at all times, his fur would get matted and he would get infections as he loves to get wet in summer, so I take it off when indoors. He's also not a flight risk, but I still leave his collar on most of the time because he spends a lot of time free in the backyard.

Another dog may have short hair so matting may not be an issue, or could be a flight risk, yet another dog may live in the countryside and have nowhere to go but home. Some countries have easy access to microchip scanning at a vet, some countries require you to go to their SPCA equivalent to get the microchip scanned, and some countries don't even require microchipping.

TL;DR opinions vary based on experience and situations, and no one is right or wrong. See my pinned post, but I encourage conversation.

Wow, what a thread!

I use a Martingale collar on my dog. It's super loose until you pull from the loop (where the leash attaches). The only time I take it off is to give him a bath. I don't think he really even notices it's there

Hah, thanks. The original discussion thread I linked in my first reply was full of differing opinions on that topic but everyone was approaching it from a "this works for me but you do you" angle. I'm disappointed and apologize the same topic under this post was so inflammatory. That wasn't even what the post was about.

Edit: Oh, I replied to this from the inbox but am now realizing this was addressed to the room :facepalm:.

Dogs go from 0 to let me stretch first real quick 😭

Hahah no biggie! I think me using the royal "you" may have felt more personal than it should have been and came off as a PM in the interface

Thanks for posting! Don't worry about it, netizens love to argue, and I'm guilty of starting a few flame wars myself 😅

My dog would sit in front of is and whine of we don't take the harness off after a walk.

I believe I've been misunderstood. I don't think they're extremists in a political sense or anything. I think their stance on the harness discussion is on the extreme end of things. Many of the arguments were "Your dog must wear a collar or harness 24/7 or you are an irresponsible owner", and they left no room for alternative views. That falls under the definition of extremism in my books.

dogs above 40 lbs must be in a harness and wear a collar at all times when out in public

I agree 100% with that practice. In my opinion the only time dogs should ever be off their leash in public is when they are in designated off-leash areas. When I have my dog in off-leash areas I leave his harness (with contact info) on too. We weren't talking about dogs outside though. It was mainly about dogs whether dogs should be required to wear their collar/harness inside the home.

Anybody who said they took their dogs collar/harness off would face the wrath of the "you're an irresponsible owner" crowd. No counter arguments would be considered either. One user made the outlandish argument that an apartment dog could escape into a common hallway, get into the fire stairs through a propped-open door, go down 5 stories, open the emergency exit via a crash bar, and get outside. To me that is an absurd scenario to use for an argument, and definitely something that only a person with extreme views on the topic would stand behind.

Fair enough, I agree, they saw things as very black and white.