Omaha begins enforcing parts of new dog laws

Parts of Omaha's new dangerous dog laws went into effect on Wednsesday.  Already the city is out writing a lot of tickets -- for the most part, for violating the law that prohibits tethering for more than 15 minutes.  And I think that because this falls under the city's animal cruelty laws, that these people are being fined $200 for violating the ordinance (someone please correct me if this is wrong).

Apparently, residents are having their share of problems with the ordinance though. Because now certain types of dogs are being declared "potentially dangerous" -- even though they haven't done anything that is dangerous - some owners are already having struggles.

Travis Proulx , an American Bulldog owner in Omaha,got a note from his apartment complex that his landlords have decided to ban his dog from the apartment building because of the new law. Keep in mind, his dog has never been a problem for anyone, but now he is forced to find a new place to live.

Meanwhile, apparently other people are having problems of their own meeting the requirements for the extra $100,000 in liability insurance that is required of  owners of  "pit bulls". While all home owners insurance policies cover people in case their dog bites, and many companies are more than willing to insure 'pit bull' type dogs -- most have policies that make it very difficult to insure dogs that have been declared "potentially dangerous".  While these policies are in place to protect insurance companies from insuring dogs that truly are dangerous because they have bitten, the policies also affect owners of dogs declared dangerous -- EVEN IF THEY"RE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR BITING ANYONE but only declared dangerous because of their shape.

So instead of protecting people who are bitten by dogs (which was the goal), they are actually making it MORE LIKELY that owners won't be covered by insurance with their new law.

Meanwhile, there are other people who are very frustrated with Omaha's law because they are affected by it, but don't have a vote in the matter.  Apparently, the Nebraska state law allows cities of certain classes to have juristiction outside of their actual boundaries. So for Omaha, they can actually innact laws that affect anyone that lives within 3 miles of the city limits.  So people who live outside of Omaha, and can't vote on Omaha's city council members, are also being affected by these laws -- even though they have no vote.  

It certainly looks like from the comments left in this article that there is certainly a fair amount of confusion about who is included in the ordinance and who isn't. Some people aren't sure if they are included or not. Others think only the selected dog breeds have limitations on tethering.  I guesss mass confusion has sure opened the door for some revenue for the Humane Society.

Seems like everything is going great in Omaha so far.

Comments

[Rinalia]

Do you know if anyone is filing suit?

What a waste of time and money.

[Selma]

Unbelievable. The fact that laws like this are based on fiction (and AR lobbying) doesn't help.

This s**t must stop!

[MichelleD]

Idiots...

[Omaha Resident]

Don't donate to the Nebraska Humane Society! They should have refused to enforce this law and have blood on their hands for evern dog that dies due to their enforcment of the laws and the fear its created!