I was just reading the Grand Junction Sentinel online when I saw an interesting article entitled, “Animal control spending more time chasing loose dogs: owners are to blame“. According to this article, up to 42% of the Mesa County Animal Control’s caseload in 2007 involved chasing down loose dogs: In 2008, that number rose to 48%. Mesa County Animal Services attributes this to one thing, irresponsible dog owners who do not contain their pets.
Loose dogs are a problem for any community. They can cause auto accidents by running in front of motorists and they can attack and kill livestock and wild animals. Loose canines are also a nuisance in general because they can harass residents who are walking their pets and worse of all; they do their business in public, which is both unsanitary and generally disgusting.
As members of a community, all of us have responsibilities and one of the most important is to respect each others’ rights. Those irresponsible dog owners who are not confining their animals properly are disrespecting the rest of us in the community. I would ask dog owners to exercise a little more responsibility and to their utmost to ensure that their dogs are not running rampant on our streets harassing those responsible dog owners who are out walking their dogs on a leash. This is a nuisance that is easily avoidable. Another reason that dog owners may want to be more proactive in the confinement of their four-legged friends is an economic one. This situation is making up 48% of the Mesa County Animal Services’ case load, if we can reduce the amount of resources that they have to spend on controlling loose dogs on the streets, we can reduce the amount of taxpayer money that is needed to combat this problem.
If you own a dog that can get loose and roam the streets, I would ask you to try a little harder to keep your pet confined. If you know someone who is guilty of letting their dogs escape, I would recommend sending them a link to this article so they can see why it is important for dog owners to be responsible.
