Dogs on the loose in Metro cause problems
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A toddler is bitten in the face by a neighborhood dog that is roaming freely.
The dog is in quarantine and the child is recovering.
Metro Animal Control officials say dogs running loose is one of the biggest problems the city faces, and it usually is the dog owner’s fault, not the fault of the dogs.
That was the case Monday August 18th
“We had almost 650 bites last year,” Judy Ladebauche says.
Metro Emergency crews respond to Boulder Park Drive in Donelson.
“Over 20,000 complaints a year,” the animal control director in Metro tells me.
It’s here that a toddler is bitten in the face by a neighborhood dog.
“Bottom line: you have a dog - you have a responsibility.”
The black lab’s name is Buckley. In every shot we have, the one year old lab mix is wagging its tail.
Buckley also has a collar and a rabies tag. What Buckley doesn’t have is any supervision.
“Its tragic this child was bitten,” Ladebauche says.
While the toddler goes to the hospital a police officer fashions a crime tape leash around the dog’s collar and walks it to a waiting patrol car. Buckley is brought to Metro Animal Control Quarantine Division.
The moment you walk in the sounds of angry snarling dogs fills the air, bouncing off the smooth concrete walls.
We pass by these angry animals to get to Buckley, the only dog still wagging its tail and looking at us with his big brown eyes.
Buckley will be in this cage or 10 days, all the while surrounded by vicious dogs who show aggression, and lots of sharp teeth, animal control director Judy Ladebauche tells me that Buckley is in doggie jail, but the real fault lies with Buckley’s owner. She tells me how the owners come to play with the animal and she can’t help but get mad knowing the animals are here because they are irresponsible.
“What is really messed up. If the owner loves their dog so much why are they not in the home backyard fenced leashed it is your job to protect your pet.”
Ladebauche tells messed up that dogs running loose is one of the agencies biggest problems.
While at the shelter, I will meet a man who is on the verge of tears.
“It’s like losing a child”
Terry Johnson is looking for another puppy to replace the one he has recently lost.
“It has us all tore up,” He says.
The same day that the 18 month old child was bit.
Johnson’s chihuahua “Lucky” was running loose in South Nashville. Johnson says the animal was run over and killed by a hit and run driver.
“A gold car, come up the road, and the guy swerved into the ditch and hit him.”
“I am sad your dog was destroyed. But I have to ask if the dog was chained or in the backyard confined somehow this would not happen,” I ask him delicately.
“That is why I partially it is my fault too,” says without hesitation trying to drive home his point.
“Yes sir, I am living this and it hurts real bad.”
“Bottom line is you have a dog, you have a responsibility. Keep your dog home or under your control at all times.. Otherwise you should not have one. It is a privilege not a right,” Ladebauche adds.
At last check: Buckley’s owner is not charged with any violation….that could change if the boy’s parents decide to press the issue.
As far as lucky the little Chihuahua, the family tells me they are offering a 500 reward for information that leads to the motorist who killed their beloved pet now buried in the family’s back yard. That hit and run happened on Rosedale Avenue and the driver was reportedly driving a gold Chrysler.
The family can be reached at 750-2803
There is never an acceptable excuse for your dog running loose. It is your responsibility to keep your dog confined and preferrably not on a chain in the back yard. That is no life for the dog and it has been proven over and over again that it makes the animal aggressive. The worst thing you can do to an animal is chain it in the back yard and relegate it to very little human contact. Why have an animal if you are not willing to care about it and provide vet care and proper shelter.
If you are not willing to make a long term commitment to an animal - don’t get an animal. And, above all don’t purchase an animal that you can’t physically see where it was born and the conditions it is living in prior to your purchasing it. Never buy an animal at a flea market or beside the road and never, never buy an animal over the internet. You are just perpetuating continual puppy mills that are known as breed for greed shops.
I am truly sorry about the loss of Lucky. It is tragic to lose a pet in any form or fashion, it is like losing a child.
However, people who truly love their animals do not allow them to run loose. There is a leash law in this city and if people would just obey the law, tragedies like this would not happen.
What will the owner do once he finds out who hit Lucky? Sue him? Demand payment of vet bills? I wasn’t there, I didn’t see what happened, but I have seen this scenario time and time again working in a veterinary hospital. It wasn’t the driver of the car who broke the law, it was the dog owner.
“I am sad your dog was destroyed. But I have to ask if the dog was chained or in the backyard confined somehow this would not happen,”
Wow, you asked that out loud???????
Wow, Andy, do you practice being that callous or does it come naturally to you?