When the neighbor’s two dogs broke through the fence and attacked a dog in our yard, we reported the incident to the Humane Society. The neighbor accepted full responsibility for her dogs, who had never attacked a dog prior to this incident, but the Humane Society has fined her over $1000. In addition, they require $1000 in dangerous dog license fees annually for the next three years. Because of this financial burden—the vet bill for the little dog that was attacked was about $800—our neighbor is planning to have her dogs euthanized. She feels terrible, we feel terrible, and the little dog that was attacked is not all that happy either.
The greatest sadness is that this attack would not have happened if the dogs were regularly exercised. Dogs develop unbalanced thinking when their only exercise is chasing along the fence and growling at beings on the other side. Could the Humane Society become more proactive and less punitive so that families are rewarded for exercising their dogs rather than punished when the dogs misbehaved? Could dog licenses be rated according to the level of training and exercise that dogs receive, just as cars are rated according to particulates in exhaust?
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