Should dog training be mandatory?

A case study in Switzerland.

Camylla Battani / Unsplash

Remember getting your driver’s license? The government didn’t just hand you an ID and let you loose on the road.¹ First you had to pass a written exam to prove you understood basic traffic laws and road signs. Then you had to practice for months behind the wheel, supervised. And when you finally felt ready, you proved your mettle during an in-person driving test with a stone-faced proctor sitting next to you.

As cumbersome as the whole process is, I’m sure most would agree that the logic behind it is sound: Driving can be dangerous, so it’s imperative that people understand the rules of the road and how to operate a car safely.

Now imagine if this thinking was applied to dog ownership.

We’re about to see that play out in Zurich, Switzerland. Beginning this June, dog owners living in Zurich will have to pass a theoretical exam and attend up to six hours of training sessions with their companions to comply with the Hundeverordnung, or dog regulation.² The exam, with questions determined by the Swiss Veterinary Office, will cover topics like how dogs behave, what they need to survive, and how they learn; dog training tools; the legal responsibilities of owning a dog; and the financial and time commitments of dog ownership.

An owner and their companion must also attend training sessions to learn basic obedience (sit command, loose leash walking, recall, holding down stays), practice socialization (calmly walking past other dogs and people in public, properly greeting humans), and get acclimated to using a humane muzzle. The Hundeverordnung also emphasizes building a bond between handler and dog through setting and respecting boundaries, reading body language, and by getting both human and dog comfortable with the grooming process.

There are exceptions: People who’ve had a dog for at least six months can skip the written exam; handlers with service dogs (who go through a different training program) or senior dogs ages 10 and up may also skip the practical training requirement. Otherwise, dog owners—regardless of their dog’s breed or size—must pass the written exam and complete six of the 60-minute training sessions with a certified dog trainer.

This will be the second time in recent history that Zurich’s legislature is implementing a widespread dog training mandate in response to a rise in dog ownership and an increase in dog bite incidents. The current iteration, still in effect until June, had different training requirements based on a dog’s life stage (puppy vs. young adult vs. adult), and the training was only mandatory for medium to large dogs.³ The updated dog law is supposed to simplify the training requirements, reduce the total number of hours, and remove the size and weight exemptions.

Switzerland previously had a national dog training regulation in place between 2008 and 2017 that required owners to attend four hours of training and complete a one-hour class on dog ownership basics. Despite pushback from some members of the Swiss Parliament, the legislature ultimately repealed the law and left it up to the 26 cantons to determine their own dog training mandates, if any. At the time, lawmakers supporting the repeal said the dog law caused too much of an administrative burden, enforcement was difficult, and there wasn’t enough evidence that the training reduced dog bite incidents or improved behavior. (It should be noted that 20% of dog owners didn’t attend training classes, according to a 2016 report by the Swiss Veterinary Office.)

Zurich will soon see if the second (or third) time’s the charm for a mandatory dog training law. Still, these regulations are a far cry from the comparatively lax rules in the U.S., where even local leash laws are rarely enforced or followed.⁴ State and local laws around dog behavior vary widely but are typically focused on animal cruelty, general nuisance, rabies vaccination, and protocol following a dog bite or attack. There are no federal guidelines around dog training in the U.S.⁵

So will there ever be a mandatory training law in the U.S. like that in Zurich? I doubt it. But let’s not forget that having a dog carries the weight of having a car. Please drive responsibly.

In other news…

• Congrats to Juno, who won the Corgi Derby. Look at their little shirts!

• The New Yorker’s latest cover captures the chaos of a dog park. “Sometimes the oblivious, unbridled joy of all those dogs is an amazing mood-lifter, and sometimes—especially lately—it fills me with an irrational mix of annoyance and envy,” the artist, Adrian Tomine, said of his illustration. I’m zeroing in on the humans stuck on their phones while their dogs run wild.

• Rosie O’Donnell has a new Hulu documentary about service dogs for kids with autism. The doc tells the story of Kuma, a service dog who helps O’Donnell’s child Clay, and explores the Guide Dogs of America’s prison training program, where incarcerated people can become service dog trainers.

• The City of Los Angeles’ proposed budget for 2025-26 includes about $4.8 million in cuts to the Animal Services department. The largest proportion of cuts are set to come from layoffs impacting 57 people, including animal care technicians, vet techs, animal control officers, and communications staffers. Do you work at an LA City shelter and have insight on the impact of these proposed cuts? Let’s chat: clara@readtailmail.com

1. Sometimes it seems like they do based on driving I’ve witnessed.

2. You can read the legislation here, available in German. Thank you ChatGPT for translating.

3. As a dog walker, let me be the first to tell you that small dogs need training just as much as big dogs.

4. I’m looking at you, guy in my neighborhood who always walks his dog without a leash.

5. Given the differing philosophies around training methods, creating such guidelines honestly sounds like a logistical (and philosophical) nightmare. A story for another issue.