Golden Valley Leash Law Changes
Recently the city of Golden Valley updated its animal control ordinance regarding leash laws for dogs. It removed the option to go leashless and use voice control with your dog when on public property.
Chief Jason Sturgis of the Golden Valley Police Department says, “Now, when you’re on public property which would include any city streets, parks, and trails, your dog needs to be leashed. If it’s just you and your dog and there’s no one else around, you can have a retractable leash up to 20 feet away. Once you’re in and around other people or other animals, that leash needs to be retracted to no more than six feet away. On your private property, you can still maintain voice control. At this time, cats are not included in the leash law, so as long as your cat is neutered, you can let your cat out to do whatever it is that cats do.”
The updated ordinance helps bring Golden Valley’s rules in line with neighboring cities’, making it easier for those walking from one city to another, and on any of the trails that run through Golden Valley.
Chief Sturgis adds, “Those trails are partly the city of Golden Valley’s. There’s also Three Rivers Parks trails systems in ours, and they have a leash ordinance, as well as trails into Theo Wirth Park system that would be under Minneapolis parks’ rules which also are leash ordinances. So it really helps in that regard, but it’s also a safety factor. I know a lot of people think they have their dog under voice control, but that’s often not the case. We started to receive more and more complaints about interactions between dogs, maybe perhaps fighting, a few injuries, and even people getting bitten, and most of those were when the dog was not properly being controlled.”
Go to http://www.goldenvalleymn.gov/police for more information about this, and other animals ordinances in the city.
