Montreal dog owners question new rules

Even before the City of Montreal unveiled details of its proposed new animal control bylawaimed at cracking down on pitbullsand other dogs deemed dangerous, dog owners in Montreal have been the subject of increased scrutiny this summer.

• What you need to know about Montreal's proposed dog bylaw

The City of Montreal increasedthe number of animal control inspectors whose job it is to checkif dog owners have the appropriate identification tags for their petand whether they keep their dog on a leash.

With fines starting at $100 for dogs caught offleash, and a potential fine of $250 for dogs without identification tags, not all dog owners agree that the new rules will increase safety in parks and on Montreal streets.

Eve Sobanwas walking her two dogs in Notre-Dame-de-Grcewhen she was stopped by an animal control inspectorand ticketed $300 because she didn't have identification tags for either dog.

Soban says she tried to get tags earlier this year, but borough officeshad run out.

"He did give me the ticket for not having the tags, which was completely legitimate," Soban said.

"I did have them from previous years, but they were much easier to find before. I had no justification. I got busy, I just didn't get the tags."

Soban, who runs the DoggyDaytraining and daycare centrein NDG, says the city should focus on educating dog owners on the rules before itstarts cracking downand handing out fines.

Control issues

Some dog ownersinGirouardPark were in favour of the stricter enforcement of rules.

NDG resident Sam Baker saidhe doesn't bring his white husky into the dog park often, because he thinks too many off-leash dogs could make for a dangerous situation.

"It's just not good to have a lot of dogs running around all the time, especially because a lot of the owners who have their dogs offleash can't really control them," Baker said.

Daybreak Montreal9:16Dog owners divided on crackdown on rules for licences and leashes

Daybreak's Rebecca Ugolini headed down to Girouard Park in NDG to find out how dog owners feel about the City of Montreal cracking down on rules, like needing a leash and an identification tag for your pet.

Leashes safer?

Tom MacKinnon lives in NDG and walks his Golden Retriever, Bai, in the park.

MacKinnon saidhe's seen the animal inspectors patrolling the park, but he isn't convinced that keeping dogs on leashwill lead to a safer environment.

"Restricting the dogs so much as they're doing now, with [animal control inspectors] surrounding the dog parks, it's not only wasteful, but what's it doing? It's forcing people to never, ever have a free dog, which means your dog is going tobecome aggressive, eventually," he said.

"It's a matter of time. A dog on a leash is more aggressive than a dog off a leash."