Florida Canine Companions Dogged by Leash Law
Have any of our Florida Dogsters run into problems in Sarasota? Bark in!
Thanks to the Bradenton Herald for covering this issue.
Dog owners unleash issue
STACEY EIDSON
Herald Staff WriterSARASOTA – It started out as a peaceful day in the park.
Jonathan Pettus of the Sapphire Shores neighborhood was busy training his 10-month-old puppy named Buca while chatting with friends in Sun Circle Park.
A few feet away, a group of children was devouring pizza at a birthday party and occasionally racing over to pet the neighborhood dogs.
From the corner of his eye, Pettus noticed a Sarasota County animal control officer approaching his neighbors who were relaxing in lounge chairs with dogs by their sides.
“The next thing I know, animal control just starts writing tickets like there is no tomorrow,” Pettus said. “The first citation she wrote was for a guy who had a Dachshund in his lap. Then, she ticketed a blind man whose seeing eye dog was three feet away from him lying in the grass.”When the animal control officer began writing a citation for an 80-year-old man sitting in a beach chair holding his 4-pound Yorkshire terrier, Pettus said he began questioning the officer’s actions.
The animal control officer said the residents were in violation of county law that requires all dogs to be leashed.
Pettus said he has lived in Sapphire Shores for 11 years and never once saw anyone being ticketed for their dogs being off a leash.
“I looked at the officer and said, ‘You mean to say if I take my dog off his leash right now you are going to cite me?’ ” Pettus asked, as he grabbed his dog’s collar, removed the leash and threw it on the ground.
The officer quickly wrote Pettus a ticket.
“I felt like we were being harassed by animal control,” Pettus said. “The county, to be frank, is acting like a bunch of thugs.”
Four Sapphire Shores residents were cited for violating the county’s leash laws on Sept. 27. The following day, resident Anne Fordham received a similar ticket after bringing her border collie, Gus, to the park without a leash.
“I thought I was about to get handcuffed, that’s how rude this officer was,” Fordham said.
After the incident, Pettus and his neighbors began researching the county’s leash ordinance and discovered, while dogs in the county are required to wear a leash, the city allows unleashed dogs if they are “within reasonable voice control of its owner” and no more than 100 feet away.
The Sapphire Shores residents, who live in the city limits, decided to take their case to the Sarasota City Commission.
Sarasota City Attorney Robert Fournier told the commission Monday that city residents should not be cited for violating the county’s leash laws, even though the county ordinance says it applies within the city limits.
Fournier contacted the county attorney’s office, requesting the animal control officer not pursue the violations against the residents.
However, Fournier also said the city’s leash law is unenforceable because it does not comply with Florida statutes for the regulation of animals. Fournier told the commission they could continue to allow dogs to be unleashed, but the city would have to establish guidelines for the violation of the ordinance and regulations for “dangerous dogs” as defined by the state.
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While I think it is unnecessary for law enforcement to be rude to those who do not obey leash laws, I think it’s about time that leash laws are enforced. I have a Great Dane that is lovely with people, but feels very threatened when she is on leash and approached by an unleashed dog. My dog is completely under control if we pass a leashed dog, but there is little I can do if a unleashed, strange dog comes running up toward her at top speed. My dog growls or sometimes snaps at them. I’m trying to work through these bad behaviors with her, but off leash dogs that aren’t under true voice control aren’t helping. And I am getting really sick and tired of people giving me dirty looks or telling me to get my dog under control (or even to not walk her through the park) when they are the ones not obeying the law. Though I don’t live in FL currently, I did for nearly a year and the number of unleashed dogs there is incredible. And I often had to break up fights between my leashed dog and an unleashed dog whose owner was too far away for any assistance. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather get a ticket for having my dog unleashed, then deal with my dog getting into a fight and possibly getting hurt. And I’d love to have more leashed dogs that I can introduce to my dog in the correct way so she can get over feeling so threatened by other dogs.
Leah
I can completely understand what you’re talking about. I never let my pack off lead when outside of the fence. My dogs are usually pretty cool when approached by offlead dogs but anything can happen.
Even dogs that are onlead but the owners/parents don’t ahve them under control can be a problem too. I was out at the part this weekend with Sol (who is amazingly mellow in large crowds). Several on-lead dogs got close enough to sniff and everything was fine. One woman, however, had one of those extendable leads that lets dogs roam away while still be legal. Her small male pekingnese mix REALLY wanted to get up close and personal with Sol. Sol was fine. I kept moving him away and the lady paid no attention while her dog basically stalked Sol! And then when I managed to catch the woman’s eye, she glared at me as if I had the problem! As we walked off the small male gave Sol a triumphant look and raised his leg on teh nearest hay bale!
Another time, I was with Sol and Star crossing a very busy street. On teh other corner was a couple with three, fairly out-of-control large dogs, all straining at their collars to meet Sol and Star. Now, I bet those were very friendly dogs but let’s add this up — two large dogs who aren’t that interested in meeting strangers and three out-of-control, overly anxious to meet strangers large dogs. That looked like REALLY bad math to me! When I made the point of directing Sol and Star outside the range of the other dogs, the couple glared at me as if I had said they had ugly children!
There was recently a bad incident here where a dog was being walked and was accosted by a smaller dog on an extendable leash. The smaller dog was hurt and it caused some very bad feelings in the neighborhood.
And then there are the dangers to dogs not on leash. But I’m sure Dogsters know those so I won’t go into them.
So yup, Leah, I’m with you on keeping furkids under control in public spaces.
Of course, dog parks and other public areas which are marked for off-leash action are completely different. If someone brings a dog into that space then they should have theri dog under verbal control and be prepared to interact with off-leash dogs.
I agree. Dogs should be leashed when in public. One neighbor I know has 2 Goldens and he goes into his front yard with the dogs off leash but he has them under voice control and he doesn’t get a lot of people or dogs walking by. He’s able to handle it with no problem. But that is not so with most people.
I walk my 2 dogs and if I see a dog on a leash coming toward us, I prefer it if they cross the street or if we do. Nikki gets totally excitable while Parker, whom I just adopted, seems to be afraid. One time a small dog was on the loose and kept dogging poor Parker. Parker was scared of the dog and it became a big mess. Nikki just wanted to meet this little critter.
The laws should be followed and if someone is cited, the animal control officer should be sure of what the law is and be courteous. Pettus, the guy who threw the leash down on the ground, was challenging the officer in an aggressive manner which wasn’t right either. Good that they took the case to the commission. Obviously this issue needed to be cleared up.
The people in the article are selfish in that they only care about themselves and their dogs. Its all about them.They have absolutely no regard for the people whose dogs are leashed and under control. The guy that threw down his leash deserves a ticket for being so arrogant. 999% of dogs off leash are probably not under voice control.
They need to pay tyheir citations and get over it!!
I live in South Carolina near a neighborhood park. I have three old dogs who are always on lease. About a week ago, a pit bull at the park off lease attacked one of my greyhounds luckily the owner was able to get there in time and pull the dog off. When I said for God sakes put your dog on a leash. He said he couldn not have anticipated this happening. And that is the problem. People never anticipate that their dog might aggress against another. As much as I love my dogs and feel they would never hurt another dog I have to be real they are DOGS and will respond as dogs when in a situation where they are scared or feel threatened and to think that Dogs are little adult humans is a big mistake. Now greyhounds are very unaggressive dogs except with small animals. They can grab up a small dog and kill it in a heart beat. Some greyhounds are small animal safe which mine are but I am always scared when someones small dog is off leash and running up to us. When you ask them to put their dog on a leash they always get offended. We should all anticipate that if considers are right any of our dogs could be aggressive.