German dog owners will soon be required by law to walk their pets twice a day.
Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner has said she is introducing the new law based on evidence that many of the nation’s 9.4 million dogs are not getting the exercise or stimulus they need.
Under the new regulations in the Dog Ordinance, or Dogs Act, owners will not leave with a quick jog around the block, but they will be required to take their dogs out for at least one hour on each occasion.
Klöckner said the rules were based on new scientific findings showing that dogs have an “adequate measure of activity and contact with environmental stimuli”, including other animals, nature and humans. Tethering dogs to a chain as a lead for long periods also has to do with an all-out ban.
Dogs are not allowed to leave home all day and a person will be required to care for their dog “multiple times a day”.
Klöckner said: “Dogs are not cuddly toys. They also have their own needs, which need to be taken into account. ”
News of the law, which will be introduced next year and was first announced this week, has prompted a lively debate in Germany.
The main question is how will it be possible to control the 19% of German households that have dogs, which as pets are second in popularity only to cats.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Agriculture said the authorities in each of the 16 states of Germany are responsible for enforcing the law.
But ridicule over the regulation has even come within Klöckner’s own party, the Christian Democratic Union. Saskia Ludwig, a CDU Second Chamber member who also sits in the state assembly for Brandenburg in Potsdam, said the current heat wave meant it was not suitable for dogs to be out for so long. She tweeted: “Voluntary stay: I will not take my Rhodesian Ridgeback for two rounds of walking in 32 degree heat, we would rather jump into the river for a refreshing cooler instead.”
Bärbel Kleid, the owner of a five-year-old Yorkshire terrier named Sam, who lives in Berlin, said: ‘I find it interesting to tell you how long I should take my dog. And who will control me? Will the neighbor call the police if she suspects me of not taking Sam for long enough walks? He would not manage two hours a day away. ”
Walther Schweiz, said his dog, a 14-year-old Alsatian named Blu, had cancer, and he could do nothing but take short walks near his home in Cologne.
‘They have to trust people to get on with their own lives. They will tell cat owners how often they need to change next to their litter box, ‘he said.
