Puppy Criminals

It finally happened. The park where we take the girls is not a dog park...officially. Today, for the first time since we have been going there, the animal control officers were out. $54 per dog fine. It seems that pet owners are not afforded the same constitutional rights as actual criminals when it comes to warrantless search. We can probably thank homeland security for that one. When asked to show pooper scooper tools, momma felt that the constitution rendered this an unreasonable request and that her "yes" response to whether or not she had scoop tools would be sufficient. The officer instructed the other officer to add this to the ticket, which would have been a greater amount. At this point momma showed the bags. It begs the question as to what she would have done, had the girls already done their business.

We have two weeks to get the fine mitigated. Of course we will do this as it will lower the amount. We are also going to look into getting an off leash permit. It is our guess that these are only granted under special circumstances, but what the heck. Our girls deserve a chance to run free for a few minutes, but the closest place to do so is nearly 30 minutes away.