ohmidog!

Baltimore City Councilman Jim Kraft plans to introduce a bill next week to reduce the recently raised fine for leash law violations from $1,000 to $250.

Kraft was one of the sponsors of the bill that included a ten-fold increase in fines for leash law violations and failure to pick up dog waste, both of which were $100 under the old law.

In a letter to a constitutent, Kraft wrote, “On April 20, I will be introducing a bill to reduce the fine for leash violations from $1,000 to $250. As you know, this fine amount was increased during the consideration of Council Bill 08-0050, which raised fines for a number of animal-related offenses, such as animal abuse, dogfights, and failure to report possible rabies exposure.

“Among those violations for which we raised the fine to $1,000 were those that fell under the subtitle devoted to ‘General Care and Control.’ This subtitle includes failure to provide food, shelter, sufficient space, or veterinary care needed to prevent suffering. I believe that most would agree that failure to provide these most basic elements of humane care warrants a steep fine. The leash law also falls under this subtitle.

“The bill I will be introducing creates a separate penalty for the leash requirement, and assigns a fine amount of $250 to any violation of this provision. This still represents an increase from the previous fine amount of $100, because it is important that the fine serves as an adequate deterrent.

“Unfortunately, in many parks throughout our neighborhoods, unleashed dogs are the norm. It is important that responsible dog owners recognize that the potential for negative consequences of this behavior go far beyond whatever fines are imposed — it creates a threat to the well-being and safety of both passersby and the dogs themselves.”

Another sponsor of the law revising the penalites, Council Ed Reisinger, will be meeting Thursday night at Riverside Park with dog owners concerned about the new fines.

Here’s 11 full minutes of Bo video, taken when President Obama introduced the new first dog at the White House today.

Here’s the first White House photo to be released of the Obama’s new dog, Bo. It was taken March 15, during the dog’s secret preliminary visit to the White House, by Pete Souza, chief offical White House photographer.House photo office. 

While they may seem to dog owners to have come out of nowhere, the changes in the city’s animal control law that led to $1,000 fines for off-leash dogs and unscooped poop have a history.

And here it is:

Feb. 25, 2008: The revised law was introduced to the city council, with the following sponsors listed: James B. Kraft, Bill Henry, William H. Cole, IV, Robert W. Curran, Sharon Green Middleton, Edward L. Reisinger, Warren Branch.

It was then sent for review to the following committees and offices:

• The Public Safety and Health Committee, which completed its review ten months later, gave it a thumbs up.
• The City Solicitor’s office deemed it legal, which also took ten months.
• The Health Department, meanwhile, okayed it in three days. Also signing off on it were the city’s Office of Animal Control, Department of Finance and Environmental Control Board.

Dec. 2, 2008: The Public Safety and Health Committee held a public hearing on it.

Dec. 4, 2008: The revised law had its second reading before the city council and was approved.

Jan. 14, 2009: Signed by Mayor Sheila Dixon.

Feb 14, 2009 — Law went into effect.

What little official information can be found about the new law — though it’s not a shining example of clarity — can be found here.

Under the new law, the penalty for letting your dog off his leash, or not picking up dog waste is the same as the penalty for dogfighting. In fact, penalties for more serious offenses were increased far less severely than run of the mill offenses.

For instance, these penalties all went up tenfold: Not having a rabies vaccination (from $50 to $500), not having a license (from $25 to $250), animal disturbing the peace, failure to pick up dog waste, and unleashed dogs (from $100 to $1,000).

Meanwhile, the penalties for dogfighting only doubled ($500 to $1,000), the penalty for abusing an animal went from $200 to $500, and the penalty for operating an unlicensed dog facility only went up from $100 to $250.

So today in Baltimore, thanks to the city council, abusing a dog is a less serious offense — fine-wise, at least — than letting one off his leash, or not picking up his poop.

City Councilman Ed Reisinger has agreed to meet with concerned dog owners Thursday evening at Riverside Park to discuss the city’s ten-fold increase on fines for off-leash dogs and failing to pick up waste.

The law officially went into effect in February, though only this month has the city started handing out the $1,000 citations, most of them during sneak raids at city parks.

While the legislation went through all the proper channels, the city did little to notify dog owners of the increased cost of the violations before launching a series of sweeps in parks this spring. Animal control officers issue the tickets, while police stand by.

The meeting is both open, and open-air. It’s scheduled for Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in the Riverside Park pavilion.

In addition to concerns that the penalties are exorbitant, some dog owners feel well-behaved dogs under voice control should be given a chance to run off leash — either in particular parts of the park, or at certain hours of the day.

Reisinger has graciously agreed to hear those concerns, and explain the rationale behind the increased penalties.

Baltimore has only one dog park, in Canton, which was built with donations and private funds. It’s the only place in the city, other than your own property, where your dog can legally be off leash.

The city plans to open its first city-funded dog park at Latrobe Park in Locust Point later this year, and Mayor Dixon has promised more, but a recent round of budget cutbacks may put their future in doubt.

A 92-year-old Washington man whose dog was stolen says he feels like he “hit the $50 million lottery” after being reunited with his Sparky.

Police believe that two youths ran off with the poodle-shih tzu mix Tuesday evening, the Washington Post reported. 

After the theft drew widespread media attention, an unidentified man familiar with the dog and his owner found Sparky on Saturday and returned him to his owner, Charles Boyd, of Columbia Heights.

“Sparky means my life to me,” Boyd told NBC news in Washington. “He’s like a child to me. I don’t have any children, so he’s my son.”

Boyd, who has had the dog for about five years, said two teens took the dog while a friend was watching him.

Aging and nursing a broken leg, Boyd said he was unable to sleep after Sparky was taken.

Police in Washington plastered the neighborhood with flyers to help Boyd find his dog, and a $1,000 reward was offered. The man did not tell Boyd who he was, but said he’d seen two kids playing with Sparky and decided he needed to get the dog back to its owner.

(Family photo)