That's interesting Kristy. Maybe its a city vs. county thing. I can see where they certainly don't need a bunch of dogs running loose in a heavily populated area. I've never lived within a "city limits" so that may be the difference. I've always been in the burbs or rural. Or in my case now, in the middle of nowhere! My family never got a "house" dog till I was in high school. Where I live, there are no laws that state
where a dog should be kept, ie, inside or outside. Unfortunatley leaving it up to the owner's common sense doesn't always work since some people have no common sense. We have an animal control officer who polices the treatment of pets. If I suspect that an animal is being abused then I would call him. And if someone has a dog who barks incessantly or gets in people's trash or is so untrained and left on its own that it becomes a menace in the neighborhood then animal control takes care of the situation, speaking to the owner or in worst case scenario removing the animal from the home. Its not a perfect system but serves its purpose most of the time. I have no problem with the care of my neighbor's pets. We have large yards and tons of shade. Most of them are Labs or lab mixes. I occasionally have to run one out of my yard so it won't poop in it (with two I've got enough dog poop of my own
) but that's no big deal. I live in a rural area. This is pretty normal around here. Some have house dogs, some don't. In the city, I'm not sure what the laws are since I've never lived there.