Dogs and children: a sometimes difficult cohabitation
Dogs and children: a sometimes difficult cohabitation
"I often go for walks with my children along the banks of the Arve and a lot of dogs wander around off-leash, often within 50 metres of their owners. My children are terrified when these big beasts come sniffing at them. I'd like to know if there's a law that says you have to keep your dog on a lead in any situation, or that you can let them roam free in large open spaces. Thank you."
Fanny, Veyrier
According to Geneva's regulations for the application of the law on the conditions for breeding, training and keeping dogs, there are places where dogs are not allowed, places where dogs on a lead are allowed and places where dogs may be left free, but only if accompanied.
Dogs are not allowed in churches, concert halls, premises used for the sale of foodstuffs, public baths and swimming pools, schools and playgrounds. The same applies in certain public parks, such as the Botanical Gardens and Ile Rousseau, in nature and forest reserves and areas that have been declared off-limits, in crops or on riverbanks and in the water from October to March, within the perimeter of the nationally important reserve for waterfowl and migratory birds, which includes the Rade and the course of the Rhône.
Dogs are allowed but must be kept on a lead in localities, as well as on public roads open to traffic, in promenades and promenade quays, gardens and public parks, as well as in similar places accessible to the public, within the perimeter of the reserve of water birds and migratory birds of international importance and in forests, from 1st April to 15th July, as well as when the keeper is not in strict control of his animal. They may be allowed to roam freely if accompanied in various places, a list of which is available on the City's website, including the Plainpalais plain and part of the banks of the Arve and Rhône rivers. As you know, the issue of dangerous dogs, which has been much in the news, remains a reserved one.
