By DIANE VALDEN
COPAKE—The matter of dogs running around unleashed and misbehaving came up again at the Copake Town Board meeting, June 8.
Copake Councilmember Terry Sullivan reported that her friend and her two young daughters were walking in Copake Falls on their way to swim in the Ore Pit at the Taconic State Park when they were approached by a loose dog which acted aggressively toward them.
The dog’s owner was nearby, but clearly was not in control of the dog, said Ms. Sullivan, who called the situation “threatening” and her friend and the children “scared.” She said this incident “was not the first time.”
Her friend had to tell the dog owner to hold on to the dog’s collar until she and her children could get away, Ms. Sullivan told The Columbia Paper in a subsequent interview.
The Town of Copake has a leash law which falls under Chapter 85: Animals, and the subsection: Dog Control, in the Town Code.
The law says, “It shall be unlawful for any owner of any dog in the town to permit or allow such dog to: A. Run at large unless the dog is restrained by an adequate leash or unless it is accompanied by its owner or a responsible person and under the full control of such owner or person.”
Section D of the law says it is illegal to allow your dog to “chase, jump upon or at or otherwise harass any person in such a manner as to reasonably cause intimidation or fear or to put such person in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm or injury.”
Someone who is found guilty of breaking the law will “be subject to a fine of not more than $250 or imprisonment for a term of not more than 15 days, or both.”
The problem of unleashed dogs in Copake was the subject of a Columbia Paper story back in August 2021, “Scofflaw’s dog ends hen’s life,” which recounted the story of an unleashed dog on the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, in the Underhill Road vicinity, which killed a family’s chicken. The dog owner then attempted “to flee the crime scene with the dog which still had the chicken in its mouth.”
In response to the incident at that time, the Town Board agreed to post signs warning people about the need to keep their dogs on a leash.
In light of this most recent incident, the board agreed to post additional signs about the leash law along the Rail Trail from Orphan Farm Road south to Boston Corners. Town Supervisor Jeanne Mettler said she addressed the matter with the town’s Animal Control Officer Kyle Miller, who told her he had not been receiving reports about unleashed dogs.
Ms. Mettler told the board that anyone who is aware of leash law violators should take pictures of them on their phone and report them to Mr. Miller. Once he has a complaint in hand, he can confront the dog owner with a warning or issue them a ticket to appear in court. “He needs a complaint in order to go to court,” noted Ms. Mettler. Mr. Miller, who is also the animal control officer for Austerlitz, Claverack, Ghent, Hillsdale and Taghaknic, can be reached at 1-845-407-1367.
To contact Diane Valden email dvalden@columbiapaper.com
