Why don't you just call the Sheriff/animal control right away anyway?

With large dogs capable of real damage, I don't give the owner a second chance. If I see your dog out (even when I'm not riding) I call animal control to pick up the dog. In our town, if they catch your dog three times, you've surrendered it. In all the cases I have called on, this has been a good thing. The people weren't caring for their dogs.

I have a neighbor who lets his two big dogs out every day morning and night to roam the neighborhood, even though he has a fenced yard. I often see other neighbors walking their dogs or jogging stop in front of my house and turn around because those dogs are on alert at the end of the street. It's not fair to those neighbors who obey the law that they can't walk down the street without being accosted by dogs.

I admit I am the neighborhood crank when it comes to loose dogs, under certain circumstances. One is my concern for dogs who are chained and untended most of their lives. If they manage to escape I call animal control. I figure it's better for the dog to be taken away from owners who barely interact with them. Plus, chaining and ignoring a dog is the quickest way to make him mean, and they shouldn't be left to encounter other dogs, just in case.

The other is loose dogs. I'm one of the few home in my neighborhood during the day, and I would feel absolutely compelled to take an irresponsible human's dog to the vet if it were hit by a car, for the animal's sake. I don't want to have to do that, and I want my neighbors to do what's right for their dog and the neighborhood.

By the way, I LOVE dogs. I own two and would have more if my husband could handle it. They live in the house on the furniture and have a doggie door. I found out my Jack Russell was shimmying under the back gate and taking walk-abouts recently and if she had been caught, I would have taken my medicine. Instead, I fixed the gate so I wouldn't have to take it. I don't see why I shouldn't expect my neighbors to obey the law, too.

Karen