Leash Laws remain important for your safety and your pet’s

By on May 27, 2020

It’s impossible to ignore dog walker Amy Cooper’s racist response to the incident in New York City this week. If you haven’t heard about it, read this.

Cooper’s response to being asked to leash her dog was abhorrent. It’s also apparent that she might have been able to avoid the situation if she’d followed local leash laws. If she’d had leashed her pup, maybe she’d still have her job at Franklin Templeton and we wouldn’t be talking about her in Omaha. She’d still be a racist, be she’d be employed and unknown.

Maybe she’ll change. We hope so. Either way, her tumult is self-inflicted and could have been avoided. The story’s relevance is obvious for social reasons. It’s also relevant for us as a news and information site about pets.

In a related story, the same day Cooper’s bias cost her about everything was the same day we read a Facebook post in Omaha about leash laws locally. No racism was related to that post, so we’re thankful.

The post detailed a tense walk one that Pets in Omaha follower Hayley Nicole Beck endured with her pups. While working on long-leash exercises, her pups were approached by a couple of other dogs, unleashed. The significance of the dogs being unleashed in two-fold.

For one, one of Hayley’s dogs had been attacked previously, remembers it, and doesn’t need to be run up on by loose, strange dogs. Secondly, there are leash laws here and almost everywhere that are supposed to help dogs and people avoid these confrontations.

“At no point did the owner of the dogs attempt to come grab them and bring them away from mine. He just stood their buzzing their (electronic) collars over and over pretending like the result would change,” Hayley’s Facebook post read.

Thankfully, a physical attack didn’t happen. Wishfully, we hope this is an isolated incident. Sadly, it’s not.

If you’re wondering what leash laws include in our area, the language is clear. From the Nebraska Humane Society’s website: “Dogs and mini pigs in Omaha are required to be on leash or confined in a yard at all times.” If your dog is not confined to its yard, it must be on a leash.

If you’re out and about and your pup is not leashed, your behavior is not only seen as inconsiderate by many, it’s illegal. Please observe laws, consider other people and their pets, and be responsible. The world is tough enough. Please don’t make things harder than it already is for any person or pet.

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