[fredtheboston]

Hi guys!

A friend and I are currently working on a company idea, which would help make leaving your dog off-leash at parks and open areas a lot safer.

However, before we can launch ourselves into production, we need to get a sense of the market and if there's truly a need for this. If you have a few minutes, could you please complete this survey?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HSFWLRP

Your responses will help lead to what will hopefully be the next big thing for dog training and safety!

Thank you x1000000!

 

[mathilda]

uhm~ the problem in parks is often not that the dog is not safe off leash, but that it is against the law.
As long as you don't change these laws (which i actually don't think are bad, because not every dog is under control when off-leash and some owner are bad in deciding of their dog can do that), there's no chancew you'll make money out of a dogs being off-leash in public.
there are a lot of other possibilities to let your dog run free, like fields or the forest for example.

 

[fredtheboston]

Hey Mathilda!

Thanks for the feedback - that is great and exactly the kind of things we need to know/hear about.

Much appreciated!

 

[PoppyKenna]

I took the quiz. I'm interested... I do walk my dogs in a place sometimes where it is legal to have them off leash, but I don't for their safety.

One note on the quiz: in the question about reinforcement, you've used the term negative reinforcement when I think you meant positive punishment. Not a big deal, just letting you know.

 

[revolutionrocknroll]

I did the survey. Just a heads up, the "negative reinforcement" methods you describe are actually positive punishment (although shock/vibration collars can be used for either).

Reasons why I keep Delilah on leash:
We live in a city with a lot of traffic, people, animals so when she's on a leash it's for her own safety. Also, leash laws. In my town she can't be off leash but in neighboring towns she can be. Lastly we don't use dog parks because most dogs there are poorly trained and managed, the owners aren't actively supervising them, and I've seen so many fights at dog parks because of those reasons and also idiots bringing aggressive dogs.

 

[fredtheboston]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! We had a psych grad help us design the survey, but looks like maybe we got it a bit wrong. We'll be tweaking it accordingly

 

[Thisisme19]

I also took the survey, but there is so much more nuance to what you're asking. Sometimes I let him off leash to go out for quick potty break if we are at the cottage, or the yard is fenced in but in the city he's almost always on leash. If we're going for a walk or I take him to a park, sometimes he's on leash and sometimes not again depending on where it is. Some parks we visit have hills on all sides like a grassy bowl, at the cottage he's off leash 99% of the time. The situation, area, laws, and what kind of other dogs or people are around play a huge part. Even if I knew that my pup would come when called every single time there would still be instances where I wouldn't be comfortable leaving off leash because of poorly behaved dogs or people or excess traffic.

 

[fredtheboston]

Hi there - I agree with you! This is just a first and very preliminary survey to get a sense of the market. We will absolutely be diving in to a more in-depth analysis further on.

Also, very sadly, surveymonkey only allows us to ask 10 questions making it very tough to get everything in one survey.

Thanks for your participation and your feedback! They are both very valuable to us