Quote:
Originally Posted by Gladys Turnip
My spouse & I often walk under the power lines (between Marsh Bend and DeLuna) and quite often there are people there with their dogs and the dogs are NOT on a leash. Last week one of these dogs charged at us and jumped on us; almost knocked us over, and got muddy paw prints all over our shirts and pants. (Even though I'm pretty sure what happened last week is an assault, we don't mind letting it go, but would like to know how do deal with it, or better yet stop it, in the future.)
So, my question is: What do we do about this? What CAN we do about this? Who do we report this to? How do we make it stop? Or how should we react when it happens next time? Looking for practical suggestions and advice. Thanks!
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The "Leash Law" in The Villages, is essentially 2 pronged. The Villages has a prohibition the requires a dog to be leashed, on TV property. The County has an ordinance, about dogs being always leashed.
GolfingEagles mention the "utility easement", which may or may not prohibit the right to "pass and re-pass" over and through and it may specify who has those rights. Without seeing the specific language of the Easement, it's impossible to know.
In others words, you're sort of in a "no man's land". If it was PUBLIC property, it would be subject to County or Local Ordinances (which very from locality to locality, but essentially prohibit dogs/animals from roaming about unleashe).
If it was Villages Property .... a parking lot or such, TV is in control and the enforcing authority.
If it was a dog coming into your hard, you'd be back with at the County/Local level.
On the Easement, the owner has the right to allow or disallow, whatever they wish to allow or prohibit (within reason).
I have a dog. He's at one of TV's Dog Parks, every single day. If I walked somewhere and an unleashed dog came anywhere near me, with a wagging tail, I would pet the dog and tell the owner he needs to keep his pet on a leash, as required. If a dog came at me and looking even marginally aggressive, I'd shoot with with whatever I had available. There's no excuse for a dog owner to have his pet, unleashed, unless it's confined to his own property. JMOYMMV.