Off Leash Dogs - Cross County Trail (Fairfax County)

[Carlingtonian]

Airjay, one other option that would probably have a significant effect of some sort: The next time you see this person and her dog, you record video of both of them on your phone, while asking "Your dog bit my dog a few weeks ago while illegally off leash in this very spot, and here you are again with your dog illegally off leash. How do you justify this? Do you just not care that your dog is attacking other dogs? Do you have no respect for the law? Do you not care if you get sued?" Etc.

Then you post it to social media.

I predict a firestorm of debate would ensue, and you might even make the local news. And then the culprit (and possibly you) would be locally famous/infamous.

But then the person might stop from the online pressure. And local municipal authorities and LE might do something.

Otherwise, I would pepper-spray the bejeezus out of both of them the next time either one comes remotely close to you or your dog.

[airjay75]

Well, I appreciate the suggestion, Carlingtonian. With the particular woman I've been dealing with, I don't think I would want to do that since her dog hasn't actually bitten my dog and she has managed for now to get her dog on leash fairly quickly every time I have approached her (the guy with the german shepherd that did bite my dog I haven't seen for several months - hopefully my opening post was clear on this point). Plus, I just don't think I would really want to attract that sort of attention personally - not my style. But, I appreciate the additional suggestion.

[corinaisland]

Airjay75: you don't want to wait till the lady's dog bit yours before you do something. Prevention is a better approach to everything. Taking a stand by doing what Carlingtonian suggested will deter OTHERS from such irresponsible behavior. These days videos and social media is the way to go to get things done! And a pepper spray is never a bad idea to have with you!

[Carlingtonian]

I will admit there's an emotional cost to confrontation, as well as some risk. You get tired of confronting people and ending up in tense exchanges. He's going on the trail to relax, so I can see why he wouldn't want to have to constantly be filming.

This is a failure of municipal government. It's public land. Some public authority, whether animal control, local police, or park rangers, should be regularly patrolling at popular times of day. It would be easy to catch the offenders and ticket them. After a month or so of heavy enforcement, they could scale it back to be more random, because people wouldn't know when they're going to be patrolling.

[johnsonkk]

I'm with folks on here that are irritated with off leash dogs but disagree with the methods of enforcement. Taking continual video and following an owner of an unleashed dog could be construed as harassment. Photo or two, sure but not going the extreme. Two points:

One the laws on the books, any owner gets a summons vs. A ticket. Not sure why but unlike illegally feeding ducks ($50 fine), off leash owners get a summons.
https://www.municode.com/library/va/...-2-4UNDOPRLELA

If dogs bite, it must ( not should) be reported which would certainly get the off leash dog on the radar of local animal control. It's also required that everyone must pick up animal waste, anywhere in the county. Every animal must be licensed with the county and pay a Fairfax tax each year. Everybody doing that? That's another fine if caught without a tax tag on the dog.

Second point is enforcement. Suppose a task force was deciding on which project to work on next month (hypothetical since no agency is that UN-busy). If animal enforcement, I'd rather see them go out and focus on animal cruelty, neglected, and puppy mills within the county vs. Conducting stake-outs for leash and tax violators.

By the way, there is no state law on leashes. Only two states in the nation have state leash laws which was surprising. Although state game wardens could theoretically issue out county leash law violations, it's doubtful.

[ItalianExec]

Originally Posted by airjay75

So, I know this has been discussed before, but I feel like I could use some input from my fellow City-Data friends. My ultimate question is how you handle owners with off-leash dogs on places like the Cross County Trail where it is not heavily trafficked, but for which it is definitely illegal? I'll give some more background, but I'm having a tough time with what I should do.

I routinely walk on the Cross County Trail (this particular section is just south of the FFX County Pkwy). It is not a heavily trafficked trail - I sometimes don't see anyone else and I sometimes see 5-10 people over the course of an hour. Regardless, it is definitely illegal to walk dogs off leash, and my dog is always on a leash. Until a couple of years ago, I never said anything to anyone that I saw walking their dog off leash. It was fairly rare, and I never had really had much of an incident. Then, one day, I encountered an off leash german shepherd that my dog had seen before and which the two clearly did not like each other. The german shepherd rushed at me and my dog and gave my dog a small bite on his neck. It was relatively minor - no skin was broken - but my dog (a 50 pound border collie) did start whining quite a bit, but calmed down after a couple of minutes. I said a few words to the owner like you really need to keep your dog on a leash. He didn't even apologize and said something like, I didn't think anyone was back here. In retrospect, I should have insisted on calling the police, but I did not.

I had several more less serious incidents with that owner and I eventually just lost it on him and his wife/girlfriend accompanying him - yelling, a few swear words, threats to call the police. Interestingly, since that day, I've never seen the man and his german shepherd on the trail again. But, I do occasionally encounter other dogs off leash on this trail. I still tend not to say anything unless I see the dog off leash more than once and/or the dog shows signs of aggression when me and my dog pass the other dog. Then, I usually say something like, you know, I'd really appreciate it if you kept your dog on a leash - it's illegal, and it makes it really difficult for me to walk my dog back here when I know you are walking your dog off leash.

Recently, I encountered the same woman several times with her dog off leash, and I've gotten progressively more frustrated with her - I've still been fairly polite, but I definitely said that I am going to need to call the police if this continues to happen. Her dog has shown signs of aggression when I walked by with my dog, but no where near what I experienced with the german shepherd - I'm not as worried about an incident with this dog, but, still, it is just totally selfish IMO for this woman to continue to walk her dog off leash - she went so far as to tell me that I was overreacting, it's not a big deal, and she'll be sure to get her dog on a leash before me and my dog get close to her. Of course, I responded that there is no way you can guarantee this when you're dog is off leash, and it isn't fair to the other people who use this trail to just take your word for it.

The difficulty with calling the police/animal control in Fairfax County is that, while they will respond, there isn't much they can do unless they witness it. What you end up having to do is go down to a magistrate and swear out a complaint. But, to do this, you need to know the name and address of the person for whom you're submitting the complaint. This almost requires me to call the police on the spot and insist that the other dog owner stay there or follow the dog owner home so I can see where they live. I'm not a fan of doing either of these things - just feels a little over the top when there hasn't been an actual incident like there was with the german shepherd. But, with this one particular woman who continues to walk her dog off leash and for whom I have asked very nicely several times, I am tempted to do this if it continues. The alternative, is to just let it go - that's what my wife thinks I should do .

I've probably gone on long enough, but I'd be interested to hear other people's perspective on this. Should I go back to how I was before the incident with the german shepherd and not say anything to anyone unless there is an actual incident? Should I continue to ask people politely to keep their dog on a leash and just let it go if they don't respond? Or, with an incident like this woman who clearly is not going to respond to my nice requests, should I take it all the way and do whatever I need to do file a complaint and have it stopped? I'll probably leaning towards just letting it go and no longer saying anything to anyone unless there is an incident like with the german shepherd. I'd probably enjoy my walks a lot more if I can just let it go

My suggestion is you buy a taser to use on fido and or/the owner. Amazon also has Stun Baton that collapses into your backpack. I have 0 Tollerance for big dog owners who let their dogs roam free on my favourite beloved biking train in Fairfax county.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by ItalianExec

I have 0 Tollerance for big dog owners who let their dogs roam free on my favourite beloved biking train in Fairfax county.

But you are fine with the owners of little dogs who do the same?