Leashes are now a dog-walking requirement for Palm Beach County pooches.
New countywide rules approved Tuesday require keeping dogs tethered when away from home. That ends the past exception allowing dogs to go without leashes if they are considered obedient enough to follow owners’ commands.
“It’s a public-safety issue for dogs to be off a leash,” said Dianne Sauve, the county’s director of animal care and control. “There is a trigger point for every animal.”
The new rule requires keeping dogs on a leash or in a cage when they are off their owner’s property. The rule change was prompted by complaints about dogs without leashes running off and biting other dogs or people.
The rule change particularly takes aim at joggers and bike riders who have been allowing their dogs to run alongside them without leashes.
Getting caught allowing a dog to go without a leash would cost the owner $75 the first time, $150 for repeat offenders and $300 if caught three times.
Broward County already requires keeping dogs on a leash.
Some Palm Beach County dog owners opposed the change, saying the county should focus on punishing people who can’t control their dogs, not requiring well-trained dogs to stay on a leash.
“It’s the penalties that [need] to be addressed, not the law,” dog owner James Rich said.
Law enforcement dogs and other service dogs are exempt from the county’s tougher leash law. Dogs that are participating in training programs, at dog parks or dog beaches, and dog shows or competitions are also allowed to be off of a leash. Dogs used while hunting are also exempt.
In addition to approving a tougher leash law, the County Commission on Tuesday also approved a new effort to help stray cats.
Healthy, unclaimed stray cats would be vaccinated, spayed or neutered, implanted with microchip identification and then returned to the communities where they were originally found.
The goal is to free cats able to survive in the community, instead of leaving them stuck in the shelter where they face being euthanized if not adopted. And because they have been treated by the county, they would not be able to reproduce and add to the county’s population of unwanted cats.
Cats would pay a price for their freedom.
In order to easily identify a cat that has already been picked up, treated and released, the county plans to snip 1/4-inch off the tip of the cat’s left ear while the cat is under anesthesia before setting it free.
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