But isn’t that moot? Even where off-leash dogs are permitted, you still have a duty to control your dog. If you cannot keep your dog in sight and control it reliably with voice commands, it should never be off leash unless it’s on private fenced property.
Alas, at my grocery store, more likely than not, the vehicle is, in fact, parked and unoccupied in the fire lane. It’s still annoying if someone is sitting there waiting behind the wheel, but at least they can get out of the way if necessary.
Just to be clear, in the incident described in the OP, is leashing mandatory in that area?
Whoever currently has custody of the dog badly needs to be informed that this happened. Not only should they cover your bills, but they should never leave that dog off leash around other dogs again.
Apparently the owners surrendered her to my local shelter when they were contacted. I imagine they don’t feel like she was really theirs. They adopted her a couple weeks ago from a different public shelter.
I honestly don’t think they should adopt her out. Too dangerous.
Very true. It just seems like any legal action would be more clear cut if the dog was not allowed to be unleashed to begin with.
Most definitely. Not even a question. Multiple signs. EVERYONE knows.
Mandajo - how terrible. I have no words.
The tossing of trash out cars I just don’t get. You can’t let it sit in your car until you get where you are going?
That’s awful! I’m sorry that happened to you and your family.
That’s where the confusion is coming from; it wasn’t clear whether dogs are required to be leashed or not in the OP, which is why I was asking- if it’s allowed, it’s not entirely unreasonable if you’re somewhere more remote/wild than what the OP was talking about.
Or some city parks allow off-leash dogs in certain areas that aren’t fenced- for example, Zilker Park in Austin has a rather large off-leash area in the main park (45 acres) between Barton Springs and Town Lake.
Is it some sort of unspoken rule that even in places like that, where it’s allowed, you should have your dog leashed?
I think the leash laws are really irrelevant to the underlying point here.
In an area where dogs are supposed to be leashed, most people are not going to have any problem at all with a dog off it’s leash that trots near its owner, that comes to heel on command and is obviously completely under control.
On the other hand, where dogs are allowed off-leash that’s not permission to let your dog run off out of sight and out of control.
Whatever the leash laws, it’s down to you as a responsible owner to make sure that your dog is always under your immediate control, not running toward other people and scaring them. Whether you think your dog is harmless is irrelevant.
And so many supposed dog lovers don’t seem to make any effort to understand the nature and psychology of dogs. Dogs are pack animals, and the fact that a dog is friendly toward people it knows is not predictive of its behavior toward strangers and strange dogs.
I had a dog that was trained to heel off-leash. It was hard-won. We trained for months before she could do that safely. There were places where the law was very clear: “Dogs on a leash OR under control of the owner.” I let her off-leash in those places. Sometimes I would give her a “release,” and then she was allowed to get about 15 feet away from me to sniff, or run a little, but if I saw or heard someone coming, I called her to heel, and she did, the first time.
Still, if the law was “Dogs on leash,” she was always on a leash.
She also had a perfect lie-down stay. She could lie-down stay while I walked pretty far away from her-- 100 feet or so, and dangling her favorite toy, and she’d still stay.
But anyway.
I’ll nominate people who toss still-burning cigarettes from their cars. Someone did that once, and it hit the hood of my car, and embers went everywhere. My windows were opened, so, a second later, and it could have hit my front seat, or worse, the BACK seat, where the boychik, about aged 5 was sitting, strapped in.
Yeah, the world is your ashtray.
I’m not sure the leash laws are irrelevant.
My experience is largely limited to the Chicago area, tho I have taken dogs to several state and national parks. In my experience, the near universal rules are that dogs should be leashed - except for in areas where it is not required. Examples include dog parks (fenced or not), hunting or wilderness areas, private property (of course.) Even walking down the street in the city or suburbs, sure, so me folk walk their dogs w/o a leash - I have in the past. But it is very clearly against the law.
I’ve taken several dogs to many places over several decades, and can’t recall a place that said “leashed OR under control.” Not saying they don’t exist, just that I never encountered them. Where are they, and what sort of areas/activities?
Now that’s one I have violated in the past. Not often - likely fewer than 10X in 45 years of driving. Always if I am driving, and we stop at the grocery store for a quick purchase. My wife runs in, and I stay in the car - being sure to position myself where I do not inconvenience any driver or pedestrian, and ready to move the moment I appear to cause any inconvenience or an emergency vehicle appears.
I understand that it violates the “no parking/stopping/standing” sign. But please educate me as to who it inconveniences. Like i said - in our closets grocery, the firelane is a 3d lane - in addition to the 2 through lanes of traffic. And if you park either far enough outside either set of doors - or in the wide stretch between the doors - where there is also a sidewalk, no pedestrians cross the lanes or need to walk in the fire lane there.
I’ve never been to Chicago but that’s also my experience with nature preserves elsewhere. Less traffic and more wild than a “city park” but more traffic and closer to developed areas than most areas of most “State parks”.
Chicago is kinda different than the few other large cities I’m familiar with. It is largely ringed by a band of undeveloped land. Much of it serves as a floodplain along waterways to the west and south of the city. But there is a wide band of fully developed suburbs beyond that band. It is a wonderful resource. But it is by no means isolated.
I’m actually to the county directly west. A “collar” county. Again, pretty fully developed. You have to go a county or 2 beyond the collar counties before you reach any sizable number of sizable farms - or large state parks.
I think the issue is that even in an area where “off leash” is allowed, you are still responsible for your dog. If you dog attacks a person or another dog in an “off leash” area, the fact that it was “off leash” doesn’t lessen your liability: you are still responsible for controlling your dog.
Of course. No disagreement here. One reason we stopped going to dog parks - guaranteed to meet the most poorly behaved dogs/owners.
Up until this dog (different breed), I regularly sought out opportunities to exercise my dog off leash. Even tho my dogs have been very well-behaved, for the last decade or 2 I’ve concluded that I could do so in a manner that had no impact on other people. So - for example - I used to throw a ball for my dog at the schoolyard down the street. I ALWAYS did it when there were NO other people present, either well before or well after school. I suppose someone looking out their window or passing in a car might have seen us and disapproved of the dog being off leash…
Another weird behavior - akin to the tossing trash - is the people who pick up their dog’s poop in a plastic bag, then tie the bag and leave it for someone else to pick it up. Absolutely confounds me why someone would think that appropriate. Hang on to it, tie it to the dog’s leash, or just stick it in your coat pocket. Funny how MY dog’s poop in a bag - however disgusting it may be - is nowhere near as disgusting as someone else’s dog’s poop in a bag! 
I wonder who such people think is going to pick up the bagged poop. Another park user? Do they thing staff is paid to do that? Do they even think of such things?
I know that sometimes when we’re walking the dog through a nature preserve, if he poops while we’re on the trail halfway through we’ll bag it and set it aside to pick up again on the way out. Of course, the important part here is actually picking it up on the way out, which many people I guess just forget to do or don’t care, since I’ve seen bags that have clearly been sitting out for days.
Yep - I’ve had too many unleashed dogs come charging at my pups to deal with your shit. If an unleashed dog is charging at my dog, I will put myself between them and do whatever it takes to keep it away from my dog.
And small dogs aren’t exempt. I have a husky, and a couple years ago I was taking her on a walk when four smaller dogs who were walking with their owner spotted her and came charging over, snarling. Their owner (and old lady) started shouting - “oh no, come back, nooo!” - but did absolutely nothing to actually stop them. I had to pick my 50 lbs husky up and fend the pack off with my feet until their owner hobbled over and got them under control.
Eta: and I am very sorry for your loss, that sounds horrible and traumatizing 
Yeah - I think I may have done that on VERY RARE occasion. On ereason I don’t is I fear I’ll forget it. But as you say, many such bags are not awaiting someone currently walking. Then there are the ones hanging from the trees… 
To be really clear, the dog that killed my dog never charged, never snarled, never did anything the slightest big aggressive before she killed. Dogs don’t just kill out of aggression. In fact, dogs fighting often back down. In the case of my dog, the other dog saw my dog as prey, not an opponent.
Definitely fair, I am lucky that my dogs are both around 50 lbs and large enough that it would take a truly massive animal to view them as prey. And I didn’t mean to place any blame on you or anything, the situation you described sounded tragic and I don’t know that I’d have handled it any better.
Eta: and a great reminder that even if your dog is “friendly” you shouldn’t be letting it out of your sight, and as you said, if you do, don’t be surprised when your “friendly” dog ends up pepper sprayed or with a boot to the face.