Don’t muzzle working dogs too
Published: July 5, 2009
The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors is mulling expansion of the barking dog ordinance and will receive public input on July 8. If indeed the ordinance is expanded to include property greater than five acres, it may very well have unintended consequences for the rural way of life in Albemarle County.
We started an Angora goat farm in 1991. We put up four-board fencing with electric wires in between the boards. It did not keep predators out. In 1992, we lost half our herd to dogs wandering through the countryside at 6 a.m. A month later we bought our first livestock guardian dog and have had no losses to predation since that time.
Several years later another Angora goat producer leased the pasture down the road from us. After transporting her bucks there one evening, she went back the next day and all were dead.
There are now livestock guardian dogs at three different locations on our road alone. The only other alternatives to keeping our livestock safe are traps and poison. Along with many other farmers, we do not consider that a safe option.
Livestock guardian dogs are not attack dogs. They deter by barking. They stay in the fields with their animals and ensure their safety. We would not be able to have our farm without them.
There are many reasons to oppose expanding this ordinance. This is but one of them.
We cannot control people who let their dogs run freely through the countryside. We cannot control people who park their cars at the end of our road and take their dogs for a walk down our road. We cannot control the coyotes that wander by at all times of the night. We cannot control the bears that will wander down the mountain as soon as the wild blackberries are ripe. We can, by the use of livestock guardian dogs, level the playing field. Livestock guardian dogs are the biologically correct predator deterrent in for many livestock producers.
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Reader Reactions
Forty acre farm and you can’t have a dog that barks. It’s sad that the Board of Supervisors dictate to you, what you can and can not have on your property that you’ve worked hard to own. I forget we don’t own our property we are leasing it from the County.
The complainant works for Albemarle County so I guess that’s why this is being bought up.
Also one of the Board of Supervisors Mrs. Mallek should excused herself from the meeting scheduled for the 8th of July. Due to the comments that she made to The Hook newspaper (July 2-July 8 edition). Quote she didn’t love what she saw and heard next door. I did not realize she was visiting the Lawwills it shouldn’t have been any of her concern what was going on, on their property. Quote I have a very short fuse when I hear dogs barking, I don’t let my own bark. I would like to know how she keeps them from barking unless she tapes their mouth shut, which would be cruelty to animals. Quote Ann Mallek is a real farmer who lives in the real country. Does she not know that the country is not a quite place now or ever will be. Quote from the Hook she firmly favors extending the barking ordinance to the rural area. My impression when the previous ordinance which wasn’t studied that five acres would be rural.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawwill you have one vote against you to start, that being Mrs. Mallek. I do beleive she is the Supervisor for your area. Since she knows how to silence dogs I can’t imagine coming out with the first ordinance. She should have wrote it.
It’s a shame the Board of Supervisors can dictate to children and grandchildren on rather than can have a pet. Also I hope the real estate agents will be informing buyers of property in Albemarle County as of now that have to have five acres to keep a pet that may bark. If you have less than five acres you can’t have a pet that barks. This should really help selling property in Albemarle County.
God created all creatures. Dogs are okay when they are saving your lives, dogs are okay for assisting the blind, dogs are okay for the disabled, dogs are okay for military and law enforcement. Dogs must not be okay to work on farms with other animals and to be guard dogs. I forget they don’t have the right to bark. I would think the good Lord knew what he was doing when he provided them a way of communicating. I would rather have some dogs than some neighbors.
All this is doing is putting neighbors against neighbors. The dogs are be used as an excuse.
I for one am tired of the Board of Supervisors dictating to me, what I can and can not do on my property that I worked hard hours for. That my forefathers worked for and made this County what it is. We forget about that.
I guess next the will dictate what time for me to go to bed and when to cut the light off. They must what Albemarle to be a communist county.
Every time you hear a noise that bothers you in Albemarle County where you live. Run to the Board of Supervisors and cry. They will pass some kind of ordinance for you.
I know a lot of people don’t like dogs. It may not affect you now but down the road it will. You and your family as there will be others things besides dogs that they will be prepared to try and doing something about. I didn’t know the Board of Supervisors were God.
I sure hope everyone goes to this planned meeting and speaks up for their rights. Tell the Board of Supervisors you are tired of being dictated to.
In the City of Charlottesville they had one citation for barking in 2008. That’s the City not the County. That amazes me. I think people from other states don’t know what country is. They should know the country is full of noises. If they are looking for quiet they shouldn’t move to Albemarle County.
I can’t imagine any citizen in the County not being tired of the dictation from the Board of Supervisors. This is my opinion, I hope I can always speak my opinion. Guess what maybe the Board of Supervisors will try and take that from us too one day. Unreal.
Good luck to the Lawwills. I will be at the meeting fighting for you and your rights.
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