Before it writes its own leash law, the Town of Cobleskill wants to make sure whatever it comes up with has teeth.
The topic’s been under consideration for a couple of months, prompted in part by Art Rumph’s complaints of a neighbor’s dogs running roughshod over his Mineral Springs Road property.
After one incident, Mr. Rumph told Supervisor Leo McAllister and councilmen Monday, he called Cobleskill’s dog control officer, who wrote the neighbor five tickets—but only for having an unlicensed dog.
“Even after he [the dog] came after me,” Mr. Rumph said.
Councilman MaryAnn Wollaber-Bryan said she thinks there’s a section of Ag & Markets law that deal with loose dogs and offered to look into it.
Cobleskill’s already gathered leash laws for the Village of Cobleskill and the towns of Sharon and Richmondville, all of which are fairly similar, Mr. McAllister said.
“Do we want to have a leash law in the Town of Cobleskill?” he asked, as a way to deal with nuisance dogs, barking dogs, and dogs running loose.
Without a leash law, he said, even when police are called, there’s nothing on the books to enforce.
Councilman RJ Mallery said he’d only support a leash law for dogs with multiple offenses; the example he used was a dog that got into someone’s garbage “maybe 10 times in a row.”
Mr. McAllister, who was bit by a dog while running, said it’s a more serious issue than people might realize.
But he also said he’s not sure it would get support from people like farmers with working dogs.
“I think it could be a very touchy issue,” he said.
Councilmen agreed to investigate the Ag & Markets law and will continue the discussion.