At a city council meeting, they'll discuss a proposed ordinance that would list pit bulls as potentially dangerous dogs and put new safety requirements on their owners.
Dawson City Manager Barney Parnacott says he's not singling out this breed, but it's a matter of keeping the community safe, with two incidents this week statewide it's time the city took preventive action.
An attack on a flock of sheep on a Terrell County farm brought the dangers of pit bulls to the forefront in this community. About 30 sheep were killed or euthanized after being attacked by two pit bulls. Some neighbors want the breed banned.
"No. no. no. no. They don't need to be in the environment, period," said Dawson Resident Michael Jenkins.
City officials say a year ago they considered action, not to ban pit bulls but have them considered potentially dangerous dogs.
"It's a risk that the potential of the animal, may turn aggressive," said Dawson City Manager Barney Parnacott.
City officials admit, they've got dogs getting lose, roaming neighborhoods. It alarms neighbors like Michael Jenkins who gets up early to make sure his wife is safe.
"My wife goes to work at 6:00 in the morning and I come out the door with her every morning," Jenkins said.
"We have a lot of elderly people who have voiced their opinions and fears of these dogs," Barney said.
So the city proposed classifying three types of dogs the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terriers potentially dangerous dogs meaning owners will have to pen up the dogs.
"It must have a top and a bottom to prevent climbing and tunneling. You have to have a locked gate where you keep it locked at all times, keeping from the unauthorized release of the animal. When the animal is out of the pen it must be on a leash controlled by a competent person," Barney said.
Doing away with those log chains many of the dogs are chained with. "You can't tie them outside anymore which is a good thing because the animal is mistreated when he's tied on these logging chains, which we see a lot of times with these pit bulls," Barney said.
With the dogs becoming more popular, city officials say now is the time to act, because after a child or another adults gets hurt is too late.
If the addition to the dog ordinance passes tonight, officials say there will be a grace period to allow dog owners to comply with the law before anyone would be cited.
According to the current Dawson ordinance, a potentially dangerous dog is one that bites someone or another domesticated animal, behaves in a threatening manner, or attempts to cause serious injury.
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