Your Dog in Your Community

As a dog owner, you must be a good citizen. You must be thoughtful of your community, your neighbors, and your dog. It’s hard to believe, but not everyone loves your dog as much as you do. You must respect their feelings.

Your community probably has laws that protect people and their property from dogs. You must learn and obey these laws. You owe it to your neighbors never to let your dog bother them. You also owe it to your dog to take good care of it. Here are some tips to help you be a considerate dog owner.

Consider Your Community

Most communities have laws about dogs. Most require dogs to have a license. Some say dogs must be kept on a leash or in a pen. This is called a leash law. Some say dogs can’t be kept in certain neighborhoods.

All dogs in Alabama must be protected from rabies. It is a law that your dog have an annual vaccination. Write down the date so you will know when it’s time again.

A time may come when you can no longer keep your dog. If that happens, find someone who wants it, or take it to a humane shelter. The same is true if your dog has puppies that you can’t keep. It is cruel to just take them somewhere and leave them, hoping someone else will find and take care of them. It is also cruel to move away and just leave your dog to take care of itself. But, some people do this. Dogs left by their owners usually starve or disturb other people as they try to find food and a place to sleep. A con- siderate dog owner never abandons a pet.

Consider Your Neighbors

Never leave your dog free to run into your neighbors’ yards. People will not like it if your dog uses their lawn for a bathroom. They will not like it if your dog digs up their flower bed, chews up their newspaper, or turns over their garbage can. Keep your dog on a leash, in a pen, or indoors. Or, train it not to go out of your yard.

Don’t allow a lot of barking. You want your dog to bark to warn you when a stranger comes, but it should not bark without a reason. Barking dogs can bother neighbors who have to listen to them.

Your dog should never scare people by ways other than barking at them. A dog that bites or runs at people is a nuisance and a hazard to the neighborhood.

Never allow your dog to chase joggers, bicycles, or cars. People can be hurt by swerving a vehicle to miss a dog or by tripping, trying to get away from it.

Some people don’t like dogs. And, no one wants a dog to jump up and ruin clothes. Teach your dog never to jump up on people. When someone visits in your home, your dog should be taught not to jump into his or her lap.

When you visit people, you should not take your dog unless your hosts say it is all right. Your friends may enjoy your dog in your home but not in theirs.

There are many unwanted and homeless dogs because people don’t prevent their dogs from having puppies. Unless you plan to use your dog for raising puppies or for breeding, you should have your veterinarian perform surgery so it cannot reproduce. A female dog should be spayed. A male dog should be neutered.

Consider Your Dog

When you got your dog, you became its parent—in a way. It depends on you for food, shelter, good health, and for friendship and love. You owe it to your dog to feed it regularly and properly. You owe it to your dog to keep it clean and free from internal and external parasites. It also needs a clean, comfortable place to sleep and live.

Your dog needs health care. A veterinarian costs money, so you should consider this when you agree to care for your dog.

Your dog deserves your time and love. Spend time with it. Take it for walks. Play games with it. Take time to rub and scratch it—and to praise it.

You’ll also need to spend time training your dog. It needs to learn good manners so you, your family, and your neighbors will enjoy having it around.

You owe it to your dog to make sure it gets the exercise it needs. Don’t leave it penned up for long periods of time. Fix a wire run, made of a cable strung between two posts or trees. Attach the leash to the cable so the dog can run back and forth. Or, be sure to walk it at least 30 minutes a day.

For your dog’s sake, buy a collar or harness. The collar should have your name, address, and phone number so if your pet gets lost, the person who finds it can contact you.

There will be times when you will have to be away from your dog. For example, you may go to summer camp or your family may go on vacation. You owe it to your dog to find someone to take good care of it while you are gone. The dog still needs the feeding, watering, exercising, cleaning, and loving it's used to getting from you. If you decide to take your pet with you, be careful not to leave it in a car with the windows up. Temperatures inside a car can be high enough to cause heat stroke.

If you are careful to be considerate of your community, your neighbors, and your dog, your dog will be a good community member, too.

To Think About and Do

Fill in the blanks to review what you’ve learned about your dog and your community.

Put an X in the square in each box that shows a dog owner being inconsiderate of others. Put a if the owner is being considerate.

Find out about the pet laws in your community. Write them here. Circle the ones you obey. Check the ones you plan to obey.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Answers: 1. leash 2. rabies 3. spaying 4. veterinarian 5. collar or harness

Answers: Inconsiderate owners are A, C, E, and F.

Bob Ebert, Extension Animal Scientist, Animal and Dairy Sciences at Auburn University. Originally prepared by Harold Kjar, former Extension Veterinarian, and Deborah Stabler, former 4-H Specialist.