Outrageous!

[ACooper]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

don't worry puppydog, you're not alone. It's nobody's business how many, what kind, intact or not or any other information about dogs I may or may not have.

If I abuse them, they have laws for that. If I starve them, they have laws for that. If they are loose, they have laws for that. If they bite, they have laws for that. If they bark too much, damage property, kill other animals, become a nuisance, etc, guess what? They have laws for that.

Other than that it doesn't do anything but generate some revenue. I haven't seen it do anything to stop hoarding, prevent free roaming dogs, stop nuisance barking, cut down on the number dogs in shelters or anything else.

RTH said it better than I was going to anyway, so I'll just repost his, LOL

[sassafras]

Yea people don't like pet limit laws until they have a neighbor with 10 cared-for but ill-mannered dogs and a trashed yard and, say, they're trying to sell their house while their property values are dropping by the minute... or, say, trying to have a backyard BBQ and the neighbor dogs are being a nuisance and constantly disrupting it, or the dogs fence run with your own dog, or whatever. Things that aren't necessarily illegal but are quality of life issues if you have to live around that annoying dog owner.

Besides, these types of laws aren't designed so much to prevent hoarding situations as to give law enforcement the teeth to remove animals from a hoarding situation without having to prove that abuse or neglect is taking place (which can be a lengthy and contestable process).

Personally I don't see what the big deal is. But I live in a city with good AC services and I'm perfectly willing for my license and registration fees and information to pay for those services, including my dogs being collected and kept safe until they can be returned to me if they should happen to get loose.

[release the hounds]

I have to deal with stupid people's **** every single day of my life. i'm used to it. If they want their yard to look like ****, good for them. I have brown spots everywhere and a few dandelions and I'm sure that would drive others completely batty, **** 'em I don't care.

If their dogs run and charge fences, someone's going to hear about it. There are plenty of nusiance laws to deal with those issues. My dogs don't run fences when other dogs are there so it's not an issue to me.

if dogs are coming over and disrupting your BBQ, there are plenty of at large dog laws to take care of the issue. and most BBQ's i've been to make plenty of noise all on their own, at as much as some dogs.

I don't think law enforcement need more "teeth" if your dogs aren't cared for, take them. If they are, it's really nobody's business at all. The last place we lived we were criminals because we had 3 dogs. 3 of the best trained and behaved dogs that city has probably ever seen, yet technically I was a criminal. That's why I care. because all it would have taken was one nosey neighbor that doesn't like dogs to bitch and I'd be making some very hard decisions.

Never mind the neighbors I had comented repeatedly that they were so surprised to know I even had dogs and if they didn't see me outside with them all the time, they wouldn't believe any lived with us. it only would have taken one complaint for anything, and either I move or a loved pet is gone. and for what?

There are more than enough laws to deal with almost any scenerio that should arise.

[sassafras]

*shrug* I see value in them, so we'll just have to disagree. These laws aren't there so AC can march house to house doing checks confiscating animals (why on earth would they want to waste their time and money doing so?), they're there so AC has an objective measure to enforce against nuisance owners. Care and cruelty laws, and even nuisance laws, are vague and subject to interpretation. "You can only have 3 dogs" is not.

I've lived with them all my life and the sky hasn't fallen on me yet. I've actually been in violation of them myself for most of my adult life as our city pet limit includes dogs + cats and our cats put us well over the limit, but never has anyone marched in to confiscate my animals nor have I spent any time worrying about it.

[release the hounds]

did you read Miakoda's story?

[release the hounds]

so if they have 4 dogs and take the quiet one away, you think the law worked?

[Lyzelle]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

so if they have 4 dogs and take the quiet one away, you think the law worked?

That wouldn't be the law's fault. It would be the fault/interpretation of the AC officer or police.

Dog fighting stories aren't a product of this law either. I'm sure it's happened without these by-laws in place. Memphis is pretty corrupt, and police can do anything to get the job done. They don't need a pet restrictions or registration by-law to do it. And AC officers are a joke, certainly.

But if you don't like your law enforcement, you don't stop making laws. That's a bit counter-productive.

[release the hounds]

and arbitrarily picking 2 or 3 or 4 animals, only 1 can be a dog, or saying 6 total, no more than 2 dogs, or 4 of any kind of animal, or any other number of combinations I've seen municipalities put forth in limiting the number of animals someone can regardless of their abilit to train, care for or live with animals is a bit silly.

They have laws upon laws to deal with things that are problems. me having 3 dogs is not, has not ever been, nor ever will be a problem for anybody else. They say I can only have 2. Once i even had 5 if you include dogs in for training. The horror of it all, i was still able to live peacefully among my neighbors and nobody even knew the difference.

you say something like this

That wouldn't be the law's fault. It would be the fault/interpretation of the AC officer or police.

and all I can say is really? if you have 4 dogs, they say you can only have 2 or 3 what do you think happens? Some places make you get rid of a dog, some make you pay a fine each day you keep the animal, some let you apply for a license. Some will take all your animals. NONE of which I think are good ideas at all. what do you think can happen when they say 2 dogs and you have more? they just have a coke and smile? some do, some don't, I'd rather not give them the option of chosing.

then you say this

Memphis is pretty corrupt, and police can do anything to get the job done. They don't need a pet restrictions or registration by-law to do it. And AC officers are a joke, certainly.

and then say if you don't like the law enforcement you don't stop making laws. So I really gotta ask, if the law enforcement is such a joke or completely corrupt and can do anything they want to get the job done, why would you say giving a completely inept or completely corrupt power, MORE power? I don't really follow the logic.

We have laws everywhere to deal with problems and nusiances. a barking dog can be dealt with, an aggressive dog can be dealt with. A dog that is running loose has an owner that is breaking a minimum of 2 municiple ordinances in almost every single town in this country. We have plenty of ways to punish those breaking laws. It won't matter if they have one dog or 5.

The number has nothing do to with it.

[Beanie]

The most trashed yards I've ever seen - and I've seen quite a few - aren't with people who own dogs. It's people who treat their backyard like a garbage dump. Number of dogs really doesn't have anything to do with that.

As for trying to have a BBQ and dogs being pests or dogs running the fence - what does number of dogs have to do with that?
There is a person a block over with a GSD who lives outside and barks all day and all night. It's a pattern bark too. Woof. Woof. WOOF-woof-woof. Woof. Woof. WOOF-woof-woof. All day, all night. One GSD. Not four or five or ten dogs, one. I also looked at a house where a small doxie lived in the backyard next door. Whenever we would step outside to look at the backyard or the back of the house, he would charge the fence and stand there barking non-stop.
How would a pet limit law do anything about either of these situations? In both cases they would be in perfect compliance with the pet limit law.

[Lyzelle]

Originally Posted by release the hounds

The number has nothing do to with it.

You said "the quiet one", and nothing about numbers other than "four dogs". I assumed you were talking more about the nuisance than the number of dogs. Sorry for the misunderstanding.