Dear Editor,
If you would be kind enough to let me address your readers by way of a letter to you, I would greatly appreciate it.
Dog owners, do yourselves and us, a favor: Please keep your dog on a leash no matter how friendly you believe your dog is. Nobody wants to be guessing whether your dog is running to them because the dog wants to play or to attack. This guessing game keep people confused as whether to protect themselves against you’re dog or not. This town is supposed to be a friendly town and we don’t want the creatures we love to be hated or feared because you, as an owner, refuse to put them on a leash and they end doing something unpleasant to someone. Or even if they don’t, the people you pass still wonder.
If you insist on letting your dog loose in park, even though you may get a citation, at least keep it on a leash. Just remember, no matter how well-trained your dog may be, every time your dog is off its leash, you open yourself up for a law suit. It is important to note that just because your dog looks like it’s playing with someone like a jogger or a child, it is the perception of the other person that matters in court. At the very least put a muzzle on his mouth. Dog owners, you are not working hard to end up paying for your dog biting someone if a person filed a law suite against you. You don’t think of that seriously until it happens to you.
I got attacked by a dog from behind while jogging at Lincoln Middle School because the owner let his dog loose without a leash and I am sure, that his owner thought that his dog was a friendly dog, but he was wrong. The dog came at me – attacking, growling and wanting to bite no matter how much I fought him off, until his owner physically contained him.
I hope you learn something from this letter the easy way and keeping your dog on a leash, rather than learning it the hard way.
Bay Rakdar
