[nagdu] Bill looks to protect guide dogs in VT

Thu Mar 25 17:41:25 UTC 2010

Cheryl,
If you know the houses where these dogs are, just turn them into Animal 
Control - no more yelling at them. Maybe they'll see how funny it is to get 
a fine to pay!

Here in California, there is a law that makes it a misdemeaner to interfere 
with the work of a guide or service dog. Do you have this in New York 
State - I know you are on Long Island?

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Bill looks to protect guide dogs in VT

>
> 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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