In response to Bob Russell’s comments regarding the proposed leash bylaw in the City of St. Albert.

I was of course dismayed to hear of the stories you shared with us and I think you will find that in both cases that you shared with us, myself and all the fellow dog owners I know would agree that this is unacceptable behavior.

But I would also like to comment.

A leash bylaw would have done little to prevent both incidents. In the case of the Doberman-cross acting aggressive to you, you also stated in your comments that there was no owner present. (The dog was running at large). You also stated the police eventually charged the owner which would also indicate that there are sufficient laws in the criminal code which would hold owners responsible. I fail to understand how the proposed leash law would have prevented the outcome of this unfortunate incident of this un-socialized dog running at large.

In the other incident you make no reference of a dog owner being present with the Great Dane incident, so I can't really comment here, but you did state that the incident was settled in court, again reassuring the public that adequate laws are on the books to deal with irresponsible dog owners with un-socialized dogs.

I am still not convinced that banning a child from playing ball with his/her pet, a dog running with his owner in an empty soccer field in January, will improve the quality of life in St. Albert.

The proposal to enact this bylaw was done by a very small special interest group with no public debate, which is what infuriates me the most. (Are you listening mayor and councillors?) What adds even more insult to injury is that our fine city has no resources to even vaguely enforce this bylaw if it is passed anyway. (Much like, say, a distracted driving law that probably has injured far many more of our fellow citizens).

Maybe I am way out in left field here, but my grandparents came from a place that experimented with the idea of making just about everything illegal, and well, they didn't like it much. They assured me that they didn’t feel very safe there either.

Barry Zukewich, St. Albert

Comments

NOTE: To post a comment in the new commenting system you must have an account with at least one of the following services: Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, OpenID. You may then login using your account credentials for that service. If you do not already have an account you may register a new profile with Disqus by first clicking the "Post as" button and then the link: "Don't have one? Register a new profile".

The St. Albert Gazette welcomes your opinions and comments. We do not allow personal attacks, offensive language or unsubstantiated allegations. We reserve the right to delete comments deemed inappropriate. We reserve the right to close the comments thread for stories that are deemed especially sensitive. For further information, please contact the editor or publisher.