When I take my dogs outside, I put them on a leash. Easy enough, right? If I didn’t, my dogs would take off at the first sight of a small child or, more frequently, another dog. The dogs that are off their leash and approach my dogs may just want to say “hi,” but it always ends up in a fight.

Frequently, my dogs get blamed for being aggressive, even though they were leashed and only trying to protect me from another, possibly dangerous, animal. The owners of unleashed dogs trust that their dog won’t run off and come up to someone else’s dog, but that has not been my experience over the past 10 years.

It is unsafe to have your dog off its leash. Not only is it unsafe for other dogs in the area, but for fellow dog owners who just want to be outside.

Some dogs are very mild, and won’t stray too far from their owners, but even the best behaved dogs could snap without warning. Dog fights would be reduced by quite a bit if owners followed city ordinances requiring dogs to be leashed. Those policies are in place to protect us.

If people continue to refuse to follow these policies, maybe the police should begin to give tickets to disobedient owners. Perhaps more dog parks should be built. Protecting the community and your pet is a simple thing to do, so show your dog and neighborhood that you love it, and leash up!

Kerynn Fullmer, Riverton

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