How about an "Out of City Fee"?

I've stopped going, the arrangement makes no sense. Maybe a dollar a dog for non-members would be fair. What a stupid idea, to make it a private club. Incorporate a 503c, elect a board - for a dog park? I cannot believe they actually did it. I mean, it's a dog park! And a really lame one at that, they took out about every tree. What nonsense, it's doomed to failure.

That takes money. Since all governments are broke they have to get it somewhere. If you take a dog to the park you should pay. Nothing is free. Out of county people should not be at this dog park. Keep your mutts home.

What upkeep? Its a fenced in area in the middle of the woods with mulch on the ground. There is no way that park costs more to maintain than any other park in town. Why don't we just extend this club to cover all the parks in town and then fence off every park and only allow them to be used by people with membership passes? I don't think this issue is really about money. I think the issue is that the people who volunteered to build the park are a bunch of control freaks who do not want to share there park.

www.ptcdogpark.com

It isn't funded in any way by the city or taxpayers. It does take upkeep and maintenance and work. It has a limited base of volunteers and needed a way to stay a nice place, so they implemented the fee.

ZoeS

"Never love anything that can't love you back."

Upkeep, right. The association overhead likely exceeds the cost of upkeep. My dog doesn't care about your PO Box and Officer & Director insurance.

Your annual membership fee helps us pay for:
- Post Office Box
- Non-Profit fee with GA Sec. of State
- Website fees
- Liability insurance
- Director & Officer insurance
- Poop bags
- Fence and general maintenance
- Equipment rental (if needed)
- Reserve fund for emergencies
===================
$3,200 total expenses

But trewwwwww......Woooff...woooff..Bowwww...Wowwwwwie!!!!!

..

If what matt.barnes says is true, they dogs are pissed they don't have their free park anymore! So, they do what dogs do when they are mad. They BITE people!

Only people could screw this up for dogs. They just want a place to go and play and sniff and pee and poo and act like a dog and now it's been taken away??? Can you blame them? They must be howling mad!

Or grow a mustache or buy a Harley or a Corvette.

Your statistics do not take in account the demmographics of the owners of Pit-Bulls. There are is a lot of white trash and ghetto rats out there who get Pit Bulls because of there potential to be mean and then raise them to be that way. Beacause of this I cannot blame the breed. Just like any other dog given the propoer amount of love I still feel that pits can be good dogs. However, I do agree with the mandatory 100k insurance policy for two reasons. 1. Because of some of the stories on this blog explaining there unpredictablity. I own a Pit Bull. First she was my wife's dog and now she is ours. Our dog also holds a higher level of emotional attachment to us because my wife and I might because of that dog. 2. I agree with the insurance because I think that a lot of the bad people who make Pit Bulls bad dogs are low-income people and the mandatory insurance (which hopefully they will not be able to afford) will force these people to choose between living in PTC and owning a pit. Either way the good people in PTC win. I don't like the muzzle part but wil be happy to insure my dog if it helps drive bad people out of town.

For the first 10 years of marriage, my husband worked third shift. So our pit had always been used to sleeping with me. When my husband finally landed day shift, it became a HUGE power struggle over who was going to sleep on that side of the bed - hubby or Hershey. While my vote was for hubby - Hershey had issues with that. We eventually had to shut him out of the room altogether, with him clawing and growling. I believe that is why it was my husband who was attacked by the dog. Hershey felt that his territory had been encroached upon.

"The most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

It took me 3yrs to get our dog to sleep on the floor. That dog loves my wife and she loves me. I can't imagine Weebles attacking me but I can take it if it comes down to it. For now I'll just be be more careful.

Someday a person will have fear of a cocker or a collie and want to put them asleep! Keep dogs under law-abiding supervision!

mar66cla wrote:
"Ban Pit Bulls Completely
Submitted by mar66cla on Sat, 11/14/2009 - 10:17am.
Pit Bulls are unpredictable, you never know when they are going to snap. I say ban them completely."

UNTRAINED and UNSUPERVISED dogs of ANY breed are unpredictable. Rather than attack the breed, we should be attacking the irresponsible dog owners (of all breeds) with criminal and civil action, who allow their dogs to roam freely or who cannot control their dogs on leash.

As a professional dog trainer, my wife and I notice dog owners all the time with out of control dogs on and off leash. And not just pitbulls. A five year old child holding the leash of a Great Dane (or any large dog) is neither cute or responsible.

A study was done in Great Britain in the 1990's that showed despite banning Pitbulls, the number of dog bites did not go down.

Here is a link to some great information that looks at dog bite statistics:

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

We need to train the owners to train their dogs. Dog owners who repeatedly allow their dogs to roam freely or out of control in public, need to be dealt with using the laws that are already on the books.

I personally don't care for Pitbulls, but I would not move to ban them or restrict them any more so than any other breed. If we ban them, next we will be banning any other breed that bites someone. Where does it end?

And who is to be the one to determine if a dog is really a Pitbull? An American Staffordshire Terrier or a Boxer can look like a "Pitbull". There are other breeds that have similar looks and can be confused with a Pitbull. Do we ban those dogs too? No reputable registry (AKC/FCI) recognizes the Pitbull as a legitimate breed. So, who would be the final authority of determining what is a "Pitbull"?

Many people do not even know that the Fayette County Recreation Department offers a 10 week dog obedience training class that is taught by professional and experienced trainers. It's $85!

http://www.fayettecountyga.gov/parks_and_recreation/brochure/fall09/Fall%202009.pdf

I'm sorry the gentleman was bitten by these dogs, but I think he should be seeking relief against the owners of the dogs that bit him through the courts and not through bans on certain breeds.

I say lets act with reason and assign blame and responsibilty where it should be. And that would be with the owners of the dogs that have bitten.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day, the dogs will have to pay with their lives for their owners ignorance, arrogance and irresponsibilty.

Its not the breed its the owners. I have a Pit Bull mix, she is great with my friends and my friends kids.

I think this rejoinder--"It's not the breed; it's the owner"--is only partially true.

I knew Trish McConnell in grad school, whose NPR call-in show, Calling All Pets, deals with behavior problems in pets. (She also has several books on the topic.) Trish raised and trained border collies on her Wisconsin farm, and they were keenly attuned to her commands. I was impressed that Trish's dogs ran free on the property and had no need of fences. She had taught them their boundaries, and they did not dare cross them.

Nevertheless, there are features of the breed that are hardwired in.
Show me a border collie and I'll show you a dog that is genetically programmed to display a canine version of obsessive compulsive disorder. This makes it the more remarkable that Trish could even get her collies to sit still for more than 30 seconds!

Similarly, pit bulls are hardwired, as a result of selective breeding, with a predisposition for aggression--particularly towards dogs and other animals. I suppose it is possible, with the correct training and rearing, to produce a pit bull with good and predictable behavior as Trish did with her collies. But not everyone has the dog training wisdom of a Trish McConnell. And though there are of course important exceptions to this, the breed seems to be attractive to owners who value their aggressive reputation. It is simply true that there is a greater probability of an attack involving a pit bull than with most other breeds.

My wife's sister owned a pit bull years ago. He seemed very friendly and was around the extended family, including children, quite a bit. But one day he decided to attack her two-year-old nephew and bit him very badly in the face. No one saw it coming.

I was raised on a large farm with cattle, sheep, horses, etc.
There were also outside dogs. We fed these dogs and had no trouble personally with them, however they had their vicious nature. They were mostly collie mix.
One of the dogs jobs was to herd the milk cows out of the back pastures at milking time. He would nip their heels to get them to move. If they gave him a hard time he would swing on the end of their tails with his teeth.
He also joined a dog pack and killed several sheep. We shot him.

Then, certain cows and horses act like mean bulls also! One cow tried to run down and butt every small kid they saw. One young horse tried to run away with everything he was hooked up to.

The point is that domesticated animals are only domesticated so far as they have been trained and then only for many things----not all.
They have no fear of jail.
Leave a cat his claws and you will regret it!

Some are just plain mean. I once rode a horse like that. Apache was a two year old pinto and every bit an asshole - but he was only like that with me. Everyone else rode him without incident, but when I climbed aboard he bolted and bucked. Yep, he was an asshole!!

most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

Apache seems to have a lot in common with Bonker$.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

As kid, I had a couple of desert tortoises. And they acted just like those horses; you know bolting around and stuff.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

Regarding pit bulls, that statement would be true only when it was the owner that did the biting. The only safe pit bull is a dead pit bull.

It's not easy being the carbonunit

We had a pit/lab mix for 11 years. We adopted him from the pound as a puppy and were told that he was a lab puppy. As he grew it became evident, and the vet confirmed, that he was a pit bull mix. For 11 years we loved that dog and for 11 years I defended pits. Then came the day when he turned on my family, attacking my husband and giving him six bites. We had no choice but to put down our beloved pet. If he would not heal to his 250 pound 6 foot master, then the children were not safe.

Two years later, I am still in shock over the incident and still grieving over my dog. But now we have another rescue dog... a loving black lab that loves the whole family (especially my son). He waits at the front door for the kids to get home from school, he sleeps with my son until he falls asleep and then goes to my daughters room until she falls asleep. The only odd thing about him is that he is the only lab in the whole world that is TERRIFIED of water.

"The most beautiful things in life cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller

bornfree My family moved to PTC over 24 years ago. If I am not
mistaken, at that time there was a leash law that stated that ALL
Dogs would be required to be on a leash, no exceptions. Is it true
that this law was changed and if so when? I understand that it is
now okay to have them under voice control....yeah, right.

I thought the County Leash Law applied to all dogs and all owners in the entire County. I do not believe it has been changed. Does someone know different?

The County Leash Law applies to all dogs AND CATS.

ZoeS

"Never love anything that can't love you back."

I'm not sure if you were replying to my post or not but I agree there is a leash law and it should be followed. I was just commenting that I own a pit bull and she is a very nice dog and gentle dog who loves people. I shouldn't be held responsible for other peoples mistakes. I'm sorry that this guy got attacked twice in one year but with the exception of Mr. Brown how many people were attacked by pit bulls in PTC last year?

We are held responsible for other's mistakes all the time. I have never shot anyone with a machine gun, but they are heavily regulated. I can't go to ACE Hardware and buy dynamite, even though I have never bombed someone. I can't drive 90 mph down the interstate even though I have never had a crash I was charged with. I can't even carry a small pocket knife with me on an airplane even though I have never tried to hijack one. So, get over it. We suffer for other people mistakes every day. Now, find another point to justify having these dastardly dogs.

You are right that you should not be held responsible for another's actions, but you have to realize that the statistics are not exactly in favor of your breed. I believe that pit bulls, rottweilers, and their mixes count for between half to three-fourths of all dog bites. Two-thirds of those are the FIRST time for the animal to show this type of aggressive behavior. With these stats, you have to see how people are ready to "profile" pit bulls! There is good reason for doing so.

Cart path encounters need to end with a dead predator - looter or pit bull, does not matter which one.
I carry when I'm on the cart paths and have done so for 10 years and not once have I pulled the Beretta out of the fanny pack. I thought about it when I saw David's Mom walking the other day (no just kidding, doll face) but I never had a real reason to draw the weapon.

However, if I see a charging pit bull ---bang, bang he/she/it be a dead dog.

I agree with mudcat.

attack, you can not get their jaws off their prey. I am sure there are many wonderful pits but, sad to say, there have been cases where the gentlest, sweetest pit bull turned on it's owner and tore them up. They can really do damage especially to children or older defenseless people. I don't believe we should go to the extremes listed by the gentleman but there should be some control---be on a leash, be able to control the animal on a leash, never let it run loose, and always have it in a fenced-in yard when not with you on a leash. If you can't control the size and strength of the dog you should not have it.

Actually, it's not true that you cannot get their jaws apart...that's an urban legend. The problem of “dangerous dogs” will not be remedied by the “quick fix” of breed-specific laws. There is no evidence that breed-specific laws — which are costly and difficult to enforce — make communities safer for human families or for the companion animals who are a part of so many households. And it turns out, such laws also have negative and wholly unintended consequences. Who is going to pay for the County to "police" the bully breed dogs? The Shelter is already overworked and they are not equipped to make sure the county does not have any bully breed dogs. A task force formed in 2003 to study the effectiveness of the Prince George’s County, Maryland, pit bull ban estimated that the county spends more than $250,000 each year to enforce the ban. Further, in a report to the County Council, the task force noted that “public safety is not improved as a result of [the ban],” and that “there is no transgression committed by owner or animal that is not covered by another, non-breed specific portion of the Animal Control Code (i.e., vicious animal, nuisance animal, leash laws).” The task force recommended that Prince George’s County repeal the ban. (this information taken from the ASPCA website).

I think we need to ban stupid people, not their dogs.

If cats were going around scratching up kids badly and biting adults, we would shoot them all immediately, or when ever we saw one loose.
They do enough damage to my car hoods and flower pots now. They love to eat baby birds trying to learn how to fly also.

The point is that we have insufficient control of animals in dense neighborhoods. Just to say it is a person's fault is like saying wars are people's fault.
It doesn't solve or improve the situation.

I suggest that every time we run up on a bunch of stupid drunks fighting dogs in a pen, that we send all of the adults to that empty prison in Thomson, Illinois for five years---no probation. Or to the criminal hospital for the insane!

Give the dogs big doses of Prozac.

until it's your six year old that gets attacked by one.

Are you really going to sit there and tell me you'll be happy with whatever the courts decide then?

Unless and until people, not dogs, take personal responsibility, then all we will have is just pack of rules, laws, and regulations. No society can survive without each person taking personal responsibility for his or her own actions. No nanny state can save us from idiots.

As to what I would do if a loose dog hurt my six-year-old girl, I would decide what to do after I put neat bullet through the dog's head. Then I would go after the owner legally. He could sue me for killing his dog. I would let the court decide both separate cases.

If people want to own a dangerous breed, then they will have to take the risk of owning them. "sweet dogs" don't turn on their masters.

"I was in fear for my own life, or that of another"

Guy is like a magnet for vicious dogs.
Does he make victim noises or something?
Carrying raw hamburger in his pockets?

How many times has it been, Reg?

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-sixty-six times"

Joke:
Mary Jane: "whuuuuuuaaatt tititime isizis iit, sir?

Doofus: says nothing!

Mary Jane: repeats her question, "whuuuuuuuaaatttititme isizis iit, Mister(loudly)

Doofus: says nothing!

Bystander, aggravated: "Mister, why won't you tell that poor woman what time it is?"

Doofus: Whhhuuuut, uhanuhan ggitt thuuhuh tttttaaaar ssssssslapppped outttnn me!"