Lucas County Dog Warden Advisory Committee endorses new dog regulations
6/10/2010The Lucas County Dog Warden Advisory Committee endorsed a recommendation Wednesday for a new and sweeping set of regulations for dogs and their owners in the city of Toledo.
The nine-page "dog ordinance" proposal would replace and significantly expand the policies found in the city's existing "vicious dogs law," which runs just four paragraphs in length.
A Toledo Municipal Court judge found the current law's restriction's on "pit bulls" and "pit bull" mixes to be unconstitutional. The proposed ordinance applies restrictions to misbehaving dogs of any breed, and doesn't single-out "pit bulls" in ways that don't already exist in state law.
Ohio is the only state that deems "pit bulls" inherently vicious.
The committee's recommendation will next go to the city's law department for review. A final proposal would also require approval by Toledo City Council.
In other matters, the dog warden committee heard an urgent plea for help from the county's new Dog Warden, Julie Lyle. Ms. Lyle described how the county's kennels are being overrun with infectious diseases and estimated that half of the dogs at the pound are ill. Part of the problem is inadequate veterinary attention due to limited resources, she said.
"We have a horrible sick kennel full of dogs," Ms. Lyle said. "My dogs are dying."