What did this man need that he didn't have?

[klr]

Perhaps laws requiring dog-owners not to let their animals roam at will, with moderate penalties even if no attack has occurred...

Strange...I seem to recall precisely such laws being in effect pretty much everywhere urban an suburban throughout Europe and America for more than a hundred years.

They are called "leash laws."

Nowadays they even extend to remote public lands managed by the federal government to "protect wildlife."

Often not enforced, I suspect...

Dog catchers are probably not high on the list of priorities for cash-strapped local authorities anywhere...

"Hardly ever enforced" would be closer to the truth, certainly in Ireland.

[Seth]

Perhaps laws requiring dog-owners not to let their animals roam at will, with moderate penalties even if no attack has occurred...

Strange...I seem to recall precisely such laws being in effect pretty much everywhere urban an suburban throughout Europe and America for more than a hundred years.

They are called "leash laws."

Nowadays they even extend to remote public lands managed by the federal government to "protect wildlife."

Often not enforced, I suspect...

Dog catchers are probably not high on the list of priorities for cash-strapped local authorities anywhere...

Actually it's shocking how routinely it's enforced even in the hinterlands. Every Forest Service LE agent and every county sheriff's deputy is authorized to issue you a "dog at large" ticket if they catch you, and so are local cops. They don't catch stray dogs, but they will damn sure give an owner a ticket for having a ten foot leash instead of a six foot leash. Officious oafs.

This has been going on for some time too. I was fly-fishing on a river in Montana some years ago, in the middle of nowhere with no one around while my best friend (pictured) lay quietly on the bank watching me as he had done for six years or more. A Forest Service truck driving by on a road a quarter of a mile away stopped for a minute, and I assume I was being observed with binoculars because the driver took the time to get out, walk all the way across the meadow and get surly and belligerent with me because the dog wasn't on a leash. I explained to him that he was on an electronic leash and displayed my TriTronics radio collar controller in a pocket on my fishing vest. The bureaucrat didn't care and continued to berate me and threaten me till I turned my back on him and waded back out into the stream. Fortunately he wasn't an LE agent so he couldn't give me a ticket, and though he threatened to call a cop to do so, no cop ever showed up.

All the while the dog lay quietly where he was watching the exchange with interest and not a scintilla of agitation.

[JimC]

Perhaps laws requiring dog-owners not to let their animals roam at will, with moderate penalties even if no attack has occurred...

Strange...I seem to recall precisely such laws being in effect pretty much everywhere urban an suburban throughout Europe and America for more than a hundred years.

They are called "leash laws."

Nowadays they even extend to remote public lands managed by the federal government to "protect wildlife."

Often not enforced, I suspect...

Dog catchers are probably not high on the list of priorities for cash-strapped local authorities anywhere...

Actually it's shocking how routinely it's enforced even in the hinterlands. Every Forest Service LE agent and every county sheriff's deputy is authorized to issue you a "dog at large" ticket if they catch you, and so are local cops. They don't catch stray dogs, but they will damn sure give an owner a ticket for having a ten foot leash instead of a six foot leash. Officious oafs.

This has been going on for some time too. I was fly-fishing on a river in Montana some years ago, in the middle of nowhere with no one around while my best friend (pictured) lay quietly on the bank watching me as he had done for six years or more. A Forest Service truck driving by on a road a quarter of a mile away stopped for a minute, and I assume I was being observed with binoculars because the driver took the time to get out, walk all the way across the meadow and get surly and belligerent with me because the dog wasn't on a leash. I explained to him that he was on an electronic leash and displayed my TriTronics radio collar controller in a pocket on my fishing vest. The bureaucrat didn't care and continued to berate me and threaten me till I turned my back on him and waded back out into the stream. Fortunately he wasn't an LE agent so he couldn't give me a ticket, and though he threatened to call a cop to do so, no cop ever showed up.

All the while the dog lay quietly where he was watching the exchange with interest and not a scintilla of agitation.

You and I can at least agree that sometimes bureaucrats are absurd, and that our animal mates are worth a hell of a lot...

[Seth]

All the while the dog lay quietly where he was watching the exchange with interest and not a scintilla of agitation.

You and I can at least agree that sometimes bureaucrats are absurd, and that our animal mates are worth a hell of a lot...

That's the ONE area in which I heartily admire the French...they are at least dog-friendly(ier) than anywhere else.