Gone to the Dogs in Squamish

By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Dec 7, 2014

Amy Quinn doesn’t allow her children to play in the front yard for fear they will be attacked by two aggressive dogs in her neighbourhood. Her fears are grounded in her experience.

In the past, one of those aggressive dogs has bit her mother in-law and a visiting senior. Another dog in her neighbourhood has come through the fence to attack her dog. In October, this year, a dog came through the fence and lunged at Amy while she stood in the front yard with her children.  

It’s not that she hasn’t complained. In the past two years, she has written several complaints to the animal control and even sent a long letter to the Mayor.

There was no response.  

Her complaint got some action during the election when she wrote on the Facebook page of Rdogs, which prompted a councilor to ask animal control to follow up.   

Quinn is happy to know the district has finally managed to fine the dog owner.

What she doesn’t know is that the fine may go unpaid for years.

Documents obtained by the Squamish Reporter reveal a weak animal control enforcement system where fines go unpaid for years and dangerous dogs are inadequately monitored.

An enforcement system too reliant on voluntary compliance, budget cuts, lack of off-leash areas, and a thriving dog population has left many citizens like Quinn feeling vulnerable and threatened.  

An analysis of five years of municipal tickets issued by the animal control reveals at least 67 per cent of animal control fines have yet to be paid, about $5,000 that should be in the district coffers.

Some of these fines haven’t been paid since 2009.

Unpaid fines encourage repeat offenders but this isn’t a new problem, said Wendy Beaudoin, who served as the animal control officer for 24 years.  

“If you get a ticket and you simply don’t pay it, then that ticket is just a joke,” she said.

Beaudoin said she told her superiors about the need to pursue the tickets in the legal system, but save a few times, the tickets were never sent to court.

“After a while, I just stopped issuing them,” she said.

Maren Muller Bruun, who worked for the district in the 90s as an assistant to the animal control, said she had a similar experience.

“I wrote a few tickets, but I don’t remember them being followed up,” she said.

The district claims it will resort to legal remedies only if necessary. It prefers to resolve matters informally, with a focus on education and voluntary compliance.

“We’re here to help solve neighbourhood problems, not to make them worse,” the district says on its website.

On at least one street in Brackendale, the problem may get worse.

The district has proclaimed four dogs as dangerous dog in Squamish and one of them is on Faith Road in Brackendale.

But you wouldn’t know that.

Even though the bylaw says the owner of a dangerous dog shall post a sign outside the home, such a sign was missing from the door. A dangerous dog is also supposed to be ‘kept on a leash’ and “securely muzzled” when outside.

Neighbours interviewed for the story said they were not aware of any dangerous dog in the neighbourhood and had often seen the dog without a muzzle.

Similar was the case in Valleycliffe, where neighbours said the owners of the dog had moved. The district, however, still lists the house as a property with a dangerous dog. District spokesperson Christina Moore said two of the three dogs on Squamish’s ‘Dangerous Dog’ list are old dogs who had issues when they were young and have had no issues since.

“However, the signage and precautions should still be in place and this will be rectified immediately,” she said.
The district also received 51 complaints about dog bite on people and 47 complaints about dog bite on dogs in the last five years.

District claims animal control responds to every complaint it receives, even though it isn’t always possible to respond immediately,
Moore said.

Public expects the issues to be dealt with ‘on the spot’, but that is not possible given the current staffing levels, Moore said.

Council voted to reduce the animal control budget by $18,908, which directly impacted staff hours. Fewer hours mean no early morning patrols in school zones for off leash dogs, reduction in warning notices, and issuing tickets, and reduction in proactive patrols. There have also been an increase in public complaints.

These stats (see box) would give little comfort to Joanna Schwarz, who was attacked by an off-leash dog in August while she was out for a stroll near the Garibaldi Highland School. She suffered sixteen teeth marks and five deep wounds, but the dog attacks also inspired her to create Rdogs with dog trainer Maren Muller.

Since she wrote an article about her experience, Schwarz said she has been contacted by hundreds of locals with stories about off-leash dog incidents in town.

Rdogs want to educate, raise awareness, and be an advocate for responsible dog ownership in Squamish. The group is setting up a new website and will soon form a society. It will fundraise for more signs, garbage bins, and dog waste bags.

Schwarz said all dog owners realize the dogs need to exercise and the group hopes to work with the district on creating more off-leash areas.

“We need a few off-leash areas so we can take the pressure on places that are not off-leash,” she said.

Maren Bruun, the co-founder of RDogs, said enforcement can only help so much. What’s really needed is education and training for both the dogs and the owners.

The district can subsidies dog licensing and introduce incentives, create well-defined on-leash and off-leash areas, and work with community groups to educate people about proper trail etiquette, she said.

Valley Calderoni from Canine Valley Education Centre said the district can work with dog trainers who can offer free training session with a dog license.

Complaints about dogs are by far the most frequently reported bylaw violation (368 complaints) in the district for the year ending November 1, 2013.

Of these 368 complaints, there were 220 officer callouts, and that usually means a dog at large or a dog trapped in traffic, said DOS spokesperson Christina Moore.

“Right now, we’re in desperate need for off-leash areas,” she said.

Technically, nowhere on public lands in the district is a dog permitted to be off-leash, save for three small, contained areas.

Since 2012, the district has hoped to create eight off-leash dog areas in town.

Some like Eagle Wind and Willow Park would have a fenced off-leash park, while others, like Judd Beach and Merrill Park, would have designated dog-friendly trails.

These are, however, not a priority and there are no imminent plans to create dog parks.