Meridian Dog Owners Beware

Imagine your daily routine is to come home and relieve some stress by taking mans best friend for a leisurely walk or maybe you own a large breed that requires a lot of exercise and you have to take your beloved pet out twice a day. It's so much easier to take the leash off and let the pooch stretch his or her legs. It has to be such a feeling of freedom for pups to run free, well if you happen to live in Meridian that freedom is coming to an end. ktvb.com says:

The Meridian City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance increasing fines for off-leash dogs, according to the Idaho Press. The council has held two public hearings on the issue.

“I was getting a lot of complaints of people being attacked or chased by off-leash dogs — or simply being afraid of them because they have children with them or they’re elderly,” said Councilmember Genesis Milam, who introduced the ordinance, at a Dec. 3 public hearing.

I get that some people are irresponsible with their pets and I can't stand the people that have aggressive breeds who refuse to leash their dogs but an increase of up to 400% in fines is as aggressive as some of these breeds. First offenders will be fined one hundred dollars and repeat offenders will pay two hundred. If you're brave, stubborn or unlawful enough to violate the law a third time then you will pay $300.