[nagdu] Bill looks to protect guide dogs in VT

[cheryl echevarria]

I know what this is like, even walking down my own street, the neighbors refuse to put there dogs on a leash and think it is funny when I am walking home and they know I cannot see and that maxx is a guide dog, to have them not run out and go after maxx or having to try and restrain maxx from trying to talk to them.  I yell out that those dogs cannot be running around without a leash on since NY State does have a leash law, and dog also need licenses, they don't care.  They think it is funny.

Cheryl Echevarria Independent Travel Consultant http://Echevarriatravel.com 1-866-580-5574 http://blog.echevarriatravel.com Reservations at echevarriatravel.com Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10


 
> From: gingerKutsch at yahoo.com
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2010 14:32:10 -0400
> Subject: [nagdu] Bill looks to protect guide dogs in VT
> 
> Bill looks to protect guide dogs in Vermont
> Rutland Herald, Vermont
> Mar 23, 2010
> By Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU
> MONTPELIER - People whose unrestrained pets attack the guide dogs
> of visually impaired Vermonters could face up to a year in
> prison, under legislation up for consideration in the Statehouse.
> 
> The bill, already approved in the House, would for the first time
> impose criminal sanctions for reckless interference with guide
> dogs. Carolyn Clapper, with the Consumer Advocacy Council of the
> Vermont Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired, told
> Senate lawmakers Thursday that unleashed, aggressive dogs can
> impede the mobility of visually impaired residents.
> 
> Clapper, who is legally blind, recounted her own experience at
> her home in West Charleston, where an aggressive dog attacked her
> guide dog, Aladdin.
> 
> "Two years ago, as I was walking to church, and this dog came out
> of nowhere and dove right into Aladdin," Clapper told the Senate
> Judiciary Committee. "And of course a fight resulted as Aladdin
> tried very hard to protect himself and me."
> 
> Despite repeated conversations with the dog's owner, Clapper
> said, the loose animal continued to harass her dog. Under current
> criminal statutes, according to Stan Greenburg, vice president of
> the Vermont Council of the Blind, people like Clapper have no
> legal recourse to solve the problem.
> 
> "I don't believe we as guide dog owners are asking for very much
> but a quality of life where we don't have to stay confined to our
> houses," Clapper said.
> 
> Greenburg suffered his own horror story while walking with his
> guide dog in Burlington. A snarling yard dog jumped into the
> sidewalk and took a bite out of his dog's ear. Despite 12
> stitches and $250 in veterinary fees, Greenburg said he was
> unable to get any compensation from the dog's owner, largely
> because Vermont laws don't address the kind of incident he
> experienced.
> 
> Greenburg said he isn't looking to criminalize innocent mistakes,
> or to arrest people for simple interference, like petting.
> 
> "We can handle that. We don't want people petting our guide dogs,
> but we can handle it," Greenburg said. "What we are concerned
> about is people who have their aggressive dogs loose and put us
> and our guide dogs in danger."
> 
> The bill would amend existing animal cruelty statutes by
> including a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison,
> for dog owners who repeatedly allow their animals to recklessly
> interfere with guide dogs. The criminal sanction would apply only
> to dog owners who are warned after a first or second offense. The
> bill includes new civil fines for first offenders.
> 
> "There are no penalties, no redress at this point in Vermont,"
> said Greenburg, who said similar legislation has been passed in
> about 30 other states. "If I walk down the street and someone
> attacks my dog, there is essentially no redress for me to
> pursue."
> 
> Greenburg said the attacks traumatize guide dogs, sometimes to
> the extent that they can no longer function effectively.
> 
> "Schools that train guide dogs . spend about $40,000 per dog on
> that training," he said. "Sometimes when these attacks take place
> the dog is rendered useless, because he is so afraid he's unable
> to do his work."
> 
> Greenburg said the law is particularly important as more visually
> impaired Vermonters take up residence in rural areas.
> 
> "Vermont isn't the way it was years ago," Greenburg said. "Blind
> people walk on country roads, they walk in small towns, we walk
> all over the place. It may be that leash laws need to be more
> universal than they are, but at the very least we should be
> protected from attack."
> 
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