somerville dog: a weblog

The Somerville Police and Animal Control Departments will be stepping up enforcement of the leash law in Somerville and issuing citations after a man walking a small dog on leash in Foss Park on Tuesday morning pulled out a handgun and threatened to shoot two large off-leash dogs.

The incident is a strange and scary reminder that communities need designated areas where it is safe and legal for people to enjoy the benefits of socializing and exercising our dogs off-leash. Most responsible dog owners understand that it can be dangerous to allow an off-leash dog to approach a leashed dog, but most of us expect that the danger is that the leashed dog may go into "flight-or-fight" mode and, being restrained from flight by his leash, will have no other recourse than to fight. You cannot always anticipate what your dog will encounter when she or he is off-leash in an area that is not designated as an off-leash recreational area.

The man who pulled his gun on the dogs in Foss Park had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. Permits to carry a concealed weapon are issued by the town of the individual's residence. Somerville Police Chief Anthony Holloway is contacting the Chief of Police in the town where the individual lives and is asking that the permit be revoked.

The Chief emphasized that, along with Mayor Curtatone, he wants Somerville to be a safe place to live, work and play: He is not going to tolerate people pulling out their guns in our town. He said, if the person were a Somerville resident, he would already have had the permit revoked.

The owner of the off-leash dogs has described the incident on the discussion group for the Middlesex Fells Dog Owners Group (FellsDOG).

Saxton J. Foss Park is located on McGrath Highway at Broadway. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. Dogs must be on leash in the park.

Posted by Michèle at 11:43 PM
Categories: Safety Around Dogs, Somerville
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I want to thank everyone who was at the Nunziato off-leash recreational area this morning for being such a great community of park users while Strummer and I were there with my twenty-two-month-old daughter Kate.

Strummer and I don't get to visit the OLRA very often since Kate was born almost two years ago. Today we were walking by on our way to Capone's and I couldn't resist the sight of so many people with their dogs playing in the snow.

I entered the Putnam Street "airlock" with Strummer and Kate, and I called into the OLRA to ask if anyone was concerned about my bringing my daughter in. Everyone said to come on in, so we did. Kate (not very mobile in her snowsuit) hung out with me by the picnic tables, while Strummer played with the dogs.

The community of dog owners really came through for me when Strummer got into a fight with Maggie.

Special thanks to the owner of the dog that Strummer got into a fight with. When I asked him if his dog's rabies vaccination was up-to-date, he assured me that it was and then gave me his name and phone number in case I needed to follow up with him.

Thanks, too, to the dog owner who got Kate out of the way of the gate to let other people enter with their dogs while I was getting the other dog owner's contact information. It's great to see an adult being an adult with someone else's kid.

The gentleman apologized to me for picking up my child, but there was no need: I am grateful that he was able to help me without worrying about asking me if it was okay first. He then thanked me for calling out to everyone when I entered with a child.

To some degree, I enabled him to help me, because I asked for permission from the community to bring Kate into the OLRA.

It was one of the best social experiences I've ever had. The people at the Nunziato OLRA are the best!

Posted by Michèle at 10:15 PM
Categories: And Baby Makes Four, Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks", Safety Around Dogs, Somerville, Strummer
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I got a Flip Video camera for my birthday!

I had a lot of fun putting together this amateur video of Strummer meeting and greeting and socializing with other dogs at the Off-Leash Recreational Area at Nunziato Field here in Somerville. My analysis of the dogs' behavior reflects my personal observations as an attentive pet owner.

Posted by Michèle at 10:41 PM
Categories: Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks", Safety Around Dogs, Somerville, Somerville Dogs, Strummer
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Human communities have no reason to tolerate any dog that has, unprovoked, attacked a human being. That a dog that "mauled" a six-year-old boy yesterday, according to the stories in today's Globe and Herald, was shot and killed by Boston Police is entirely appropriate. It is also unfortunate.

CBS 4 Boston also did a story on the shooting of the dog this morning. The story, "Another pit bull attack in the Boston area," is available online in the CBS4 Video Library .

Karen Pryor explains, in her book, aptly titled Don't Shoot the Dog (New York: Bantam, 1999), that "shooting the animal" is one of eight methods of getting rid of undesirable behavior exhibited by the animal. She points out that, with this method, "you will never have that behavioral problem with that subject again" (100). And indeed, "Beaver" or "Joe" (as the dog is alternately called in the Globe and Herald articles) will never attack another human again.

But shooting the dog does nothing to change the behavior that put "Joe" in the position to "maul" a six-year-old boy in the first place: the irresponsible behavior of Joe's owner. Joe's owner failed to adequately socialize his dog: an adequately socialized dog does not maul six-year-old boys--or anyone else, for that matter--unprovoked. Joe's owner failed to adequately restrain his dog: What was Joe doing, unsupervised, where he had access to a six-year-old boy? What was Joe doing, unsupervised, in an outdoor pen from which he could escape? And last, but not least, Joe's owner failed to protect his dog. What was Joe doing, unsupervised, in a place where the boy, according to the Herald, "often threw rocks at the animal in his pen."

Responsible dog ownership means raising your dog in such a way that he behaves appropriately in the human community in which he lives. It also means protecting your dog from being abused by sociopaths. No dog should ever be left outside unsupervised.

Update (30 June 2004): Mayor Menino ill-advisedly signed the breed specific legislation yesterday, as reported in the Globe today.

Posted by Michèle at 11:28 AM
Categories: Canine Good Citizenship, Massachusetts, Safety Around Dogs
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