Any given day in the Verde Valley, dozens, if not hundreds, of dogs are walked off their leashes — and yet the city ordinance is clear: Dogs must be leashed at all times outside private property. The sole exception is when dogs are inside the Riverfront Dog Park.
Enforcing leash laws, however, is difficult. Many dog owners simply ignore the requirement — if they are aware of it at all.
A recent post in the Verde Santa Fe newsletter and then circulated to various city employees, highlights the risks for passersby and dog owners of failing to follow the letter of the law.
Judy Dawson, a liability investigator from Buffalo, N.Y., said she was injured while she and her husband walked their two dogs at Riverfront Park. According to Dawson, an unleashed dog came out of the brush and charged her German Shepherd.
While trying to protect her own dog, Dawson said she fell down and injured herself. The unleashed dog’s owner ran after it. According to Dawson, her and her husband’s dogs did not give chase.
“We called animal control from the parking lot, waited about 10 minutes [and saw three other unleashed dogs], called back and advised that we were leaving because my leg and right hand were bleeding quite a bit,” Dawson said. “We have not heard from the police or animal control.
“My fingers are quite swollen, I have cuts on both hands and several fingers, a deep gash on my leg. I hit my head, I have a bruise the size of an orange on my lower left arm and I am generally bruised and sore.”
Dawson called the situation dangerous. “I would advise anyone who walks a dog at Riverfront Park to be on alert and possibly carry some type of self defense — a walking stick, pepper spray, something …. The police and animal control are on notice that there is a dangerous situation.”
Dawson said she had contacted authorities before the incident in question.
“Approximately 10 days before this happened, following a day of pit bulls running unleashed and having to turn around and come home without walking our dogs, I wrote a letter to the chief of police/dog warden and sheriff concerning the unleashed dogs. “As far as I am concerned, following our experience these laws are easy to pass. The question is, who will enforce them?”
City of Cottonwood Police Department Ordinance Enforcement Officer Autumn Durnez said that she recognized Dawson’s account because she and other police staff had read a similar letter.
According to Durnez, such incidents do occasionally occur at Riverfront Park, but overall reports of incidents with unleashed dogs are sporadic and often difficult to track.
If a person calls about an incident or unleashed dog sighting well after the fact, the police are left with little option other than to note the occurrence and monitor the area. “We immediately go to that area and try to locate the animal and contact the owner,” Durnez said.
According to Durnez, most reports of unleashed dogs occur in person, when passersby notice something. Call-in reports to dispatch are less common, occurring two to three times per month.
“I wouldn’t walk my dog at Riverfront or along the river without the expectation of finding dogs off their leashes,” Clarkdale resident Jonelle Dudley said, adding that the danger lies in not knowing what kind of dog one is going to encounter.
Leash laws vary throughout the Verde Valley, but the expectation that owners control their dogs is universal. In 2014, the Town of Camp Verde amended its ordinances to tighten the restrictions placed on dog owners regarding leashes.
Camp Verde Marshal’s Office Animal Control and Code Enforcement Officer Jim Simons referenced section 6-1-1 of the town’s municipal code, saying, “You have to have control of your dog. Out and about in the public, it has to be on a leash.”
Exceptions, according to Simons, are when dog owners are participating in obedience or care classes, hunting, engaged as peace officers or are using a service dog.”
Regarding sightings of unleashed, unattended dogs, Simons said that he receives many calls.
“If I had to go respond to each, by the time I get there the person who’s seen the dog is gone and the dog is gone,” Simons said.
Reports of encounters with aggressive unleashed dogs — along the river or elsewhere — are a relative rarity, he said. The occasional injuries that result from an encounter with dogs result in up to three citations for dog at large.
