A new bylaw will give Peace Officers more effective tools to deal with incidents related to dogs.

The Responsible Dog Ownership Bylaw addresses many aspects of dog behaviour such as aggressive behaviours, scattering garbage, and excessive noise.

Officers may now seize a dog that has bitten someone, in order to have a behavioural assessment conducted.

Ryan Payne, Deputy CAO and Director of Community Services with Foothills County said in a release that the bylaw will provide officers with tools to effectively respond to aggressive or problematic dog behaviours.

"With this new Responsible Dog Ownership Bylaw, we have equipped our Peace Officers with better and
more appropriate tools to ensure they are able to provide efficient and effective responses to
problematic dog behaviours,” said Ryan Payne, Deputy CAO and Director of Community Services. “We
will require dog owners to be responsible for the behavior and conduct of their dog(s) whether they are
residents or visitors, on public or private property."

Nearly 40% of complaints investigated by peace officers last year were dog related complaints, totalling 98 in all, according to Foothills County.

More information is available at the Foothills County website.

 

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