Archived Opinion

We need laws to control loud, dangerous pets

To the Editor:

What an ignorant letter (“People, not dogs, are the problem,” Aug. 1, The Smoky Mountain News) written by Mylan Sessions of Clyde.

We were the second homeowners to build in our area — nice, quiet and lonely — no log mansion. We have had people move in and are raising big barking dogs — fenced a run for them very near the road. Nothing or no one can come up the road; no one can walk the road without the dogs barking day or night. Someone walks four beautiful black and white dogs on our road and not a single leash. I was cornered by three big dogs not on a leash, as was my neighbor, and was nearly scared to death. We are afraid to walk our road anymore. It simply isn’t safe. I have a big plastic dog bone left in my yard by someone’s uninvited dog.

We certainly do need a countywide ordinance concerning leash laws, breeding or housing standards, and registration of animals by their owners.

Edith Barton

Waynesville

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