PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners approved changes to the Animal Control Code that requires all dogs to be on a leash when not at a specified off-leash park or their owners’ property.
The approved changes also include allowing more than one designated county shelter in addition to specific definition changes and additions.
The three commissioners unanimously approved the code changes during their Monday morning meeting. They conducted a public hearing regarding the changes on May 17.
The leash law requires all dogs that are not on the property of their owner, keeper or handler to be on a leash up to 8 feet long, with their owner, handler or keeper maintaining control of the leash, according to commission documents.
That excludes specific off-leash dog parks, such as the one at Mountain View Commons in Port Townsend, as well as dogs competing in shows, being used to hunt, completing field and/or obedience trials, and other specific exceptions that can be found along with the full code at https://tinyurl.com/PDN-JeffCoAnimalControl.
Former animal control policies allow for dogs to run while under verbal commands from their owner. However, the county has had issues with owners not controlling their dogs and letting them run free.
Animal control officers won’t be patrolling or looking to write tickets for people who don’t have their dog on a leash, but if an incident occurs, such as a bite or an attack, the proposed law would give them the ability to write a ticket if necessary, Sheriff Joe Nole said during the initial presentation of the code changes on April 12.
The change to allow more than one designated shelter for Jefferson County is to streamline the process of getting injured animals to proper care and save the county money, Nole said.
The Jefferson County Humane Society doesn’t have veterinary care, and the code used to require deputies to drive to Poulsbo for emergency cases. The modification of the code to allow more than one shelter allows deputies to transport injured animals to Quilcene’s Center Valley Animal Rescue, which has the capacity to care for severely injured animals, Nole said.
The commissioners agreed to modify the definition of “service animal” from mentioning dogs and miniature horses directly, to “any animal as defined by RCW 49.60.040,” which lists the state’s approved service animals, including dogs and miniature horses, after the commissioners received public comment opposing miniature horses as service animals.
The definition of a “dangerous dog” also was updated. A dangerous dog is one that inflicts severe injury to a human without provocation while on public or private property or kills a domestic animal or livestock without provocation off their owner’s property, or was previously found to be potentially dangerous prior to an injury inflicted on a human and the dog again aggressively bites, attacks or endangers the safety of humans, according to commission documents.
A potentially dangerous dog is one that, when unprovoked, inflicts bites on a human, domestic animal or livestock, or chases or approaches a human aggressively, or a dog with a known tendency to attack or threaten the safety of humans, animals or livestock, the updated documents said.
The definition of domestic animal was expanded from cats and dogs to “an animal normally kept as a pet, such as a bird, cat, dog, or rabbit.”
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Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
