On 15 Oct 2006 12:13:10 -0700, "AnWinEsp" wrote:

Currently my town's regulations with regard to dog walking read thus:
"A. No person owning, harboring, keeping or in charge of any dog shall
cause, suffer or allow such animal to soil, defile, defecate on or
commit any nuisance on any common thoroughfare, sidewalk, passageway,
bypath, play area, park or any place where people congregate or walk
upon any public property whatsoever or upon any private property
without the permission of the owner of said property.
"B. In the event that any dog shall, through inadvertence or otherwise,
soil, defile, defecate on or commit any nuisance contrary to the
foregoing restrictions, the person owning, harboring, keeping or in
charge of such dog shall immediately remove all feces deposited by such
dog."

The A part of this municipal ordinance is basically saying that a
person can't walk his or her dog. (The B part is reasonable.) People
are breaking this every day.

Not in my opinion, because a reasonable person couldn't possibly know
if his dog is going to have to "go" during a walk.

If the intent of the law was really to prohibit the mere walking of a
dog, there would be a law that said something like: "No person shall
walk a dog...."

Again, I'm no lawyer (but I wanted to play one on TV once!), but both
"A" and "B" parts ("B" pretty much mitigates against "A") are
basically just lawyer-ese for: CLEAN UP YOUR DOG'S CRAP.

I don't want to break the law every time I walk my dog.

You're not breaking the law, IMO, but if it'll make you feel better,
ask a lawyer.

Has anyone here heard of getting such an ordinance changed? Where do I
begin?

First, ask (or call) your municipality's attorney. It won't cost you a
dime. Each has at least one (if only for its own protection), e.g.
City Attorney, County Attorney, State Attorney, etc. You might not
need to change anything.

He'll likely be able to reassure you that it's okay to walk your dog,
provided you clean up after it.



--
Handsome Jack Morrison