Posted On: January 19, 2007, 3:02 pm CST

Posted By: md

Why are you so hostile towards me? You are asking these questions assuming that I DON'T hold the city responsible for enforcing the laws & that I don't complain to them about it. And you say "then you can spend as much time as you do on these bulletin boards" to complain to the city, which is funny since those were the only 2 posts I've made to "these bulletin boards" until this very one (& you yourself posted twice...). And I made them one right after the other...
I really don't think it would be that difficult for the cops to see people with their dogs unmuzzled since people walk their dogs all over NYC. There are a few areas where I have seen people with their dogs off-leash, but we have LEASH laws for a reason! Imagine how many people would just let their dogs run around off-leash if we didn't have a leash law! So when it comes to muzzling, it may not be perfect & there are always people who break the laws, but it would be SOMETHING. You don't have to do much searching to see dogs being walked around NYC & it'd be pretty obvious if one of them wasn't wearing a muzzle. So it's not really a matter of search and destroy for the most part.
When it comes to registering & spaying/neutering & microchipping, I agree. My dog underwent all of those things. But it's a bit more difficult for a cop to SEE that a dog is microchipped, spayed/neutered, & registered than it is for them to SEE that it doesn't have a muzzle on. I know that when cops SEE it, they like to cause problems because I've experienced it myself. I actually WASN'T breaking the law even thought the cop THOUGHT I was (he had no idea there were service dogs besides just seeing eye dogs & tried to throw me & my service dog out of the subway until I set him straight & threatened him with a lawsuit), but it goes to show that if they are told that a certain thing is against the rules, they can and will throw their power around. They like to do that sort of thing.
The point is, why are you so resistant to muzzling? You say it's stupid because we have to get the city to actually enforce it & while I agree that they should, saying that a law is hard to enforce (i.e. cops usually don't want to bother) does not mean that the law should not exist. Why is it then not an acceptable step before banning pitbulls altogether? If you're that opposed to banning, why should you be so offended by a muzzle law? I'm a dog owner, a SERVICE dog owner, & I'm not opposed to my dog wearing a muzzle if that was the law.