Dog attack - Association Issue or Not?

All,

I have my personal opinions on how an Association should respond to dog attacks.

I've provided information on what I know. Please note that using 20/20 hindsight, I already am aware that I should not have provided my personal opinion in my response. Therefore, please lets not focus on that issue.

What I would like to know is your opinion on how you would proceed now.

Here are the specifics as I know them:

Initial Complaint

I walked past the man with his two spaniels at [Address]. They were on a leash but the black one jumped up and tried to bite me. He caught my sleeve and not my hand, but he was after skin. How do I file a complaint?

My Response

I'm sorry to hear of the incident and hope you were not injured. I'll certainly bring the issue up at the Board meeting scheduled for next week. Personally, I don't believe that the issue would be an Association issue, but simply an issue between two residents. However, as I said, I will bring the issue up at the Board meeting and have copied [President's name] and [Architectural Chair] on this e-mail.

My personal suggestion would be to contact Animal Control to file a complaint. They are trained to investigate such issues and have more authority then the Association would to correct any issues that they may they find. Their Website is: [Link provided]

Their response to my response

My issue with this is that it is a neighborhood problem. These two dogs get loose occasionally, the last time the man was able to capture them because one had stopped to pee in my front yard.

As for the issue between two residents, I have no authority to reprimand them for their dogs' behavior. In my opinion, a pet that is capable of that behavior should be muzzled. But again, I can't request that they take that step. What will talking with them accomplish? They have the right to walk their dogs, and my approaching them has the potential to create a negative situation for me.

I do not have a wound on my hand, but I do have a shirt sleeve with a hole in it from the incident.

My hope is that the association can send a letter advising them of the responsibility to keep the dogs under control. With all the kids around, it's only a matter of time before someone gets bit. I'm hoping for the association to acknowledge the event, either to them directly or a targeted letter to the neighborhood, in the hopes of letting others around me know that this dog is unstable.

I yelled, HEY! as he was hanging off my sleeve, and the man said, "Max! You're not supposed to do that!" He asked if I was okay, and I said, "He didn't get my hand, just my shirt." But my sleeve is torn.

I think this is a larger issue than just between two residents.

Thank you for taking the time to communicate about this, and to read my concerns.

No response to the last communication was sent

Excerpt from our enforcement Policy:

Other than alleged covenant violations or alleged violations of the Design Guidelines, disputes between owners regarding activities within the private lots or living units or the appurtenant common areas, the Association will generally not become involved in the disputes or act on a complaint unless two or more persons have complained in writing.

Excerpt from our Pet Policy (note emphasized section):

A. Pet Owners are responsible for the immediate removal and proper disposal of animal waste on all portions of the Common Areas.

B. Pets shall not be permitted upon the Common Areas unless they are carried, leashed or under voice control by the owner.

C. No pet may be leashed to any stationary object on the common areas and left unattended.

D. Pet owners are responsible for any property damage, injury or disturbances their pet may cause or inflict.

The following shall be grounds for complaint and finding of a community nuisance:

A. Pets running at large;

B. Pets damaging, soiling, defecating on or defiling any private property (other than that of such pet's owner) or the Common Areas;

C. Pets causing unsanitary, dangerous, or offensive conditions;

D. Pets making or causing noises of sufficient volume to interfere with other residents' rest or peaceful enjoyment of the Property.

E. Causing or allowing any pet to molest, attack, or otherwise interfere with the freedom of movement of persons on the Common Areas, to chase vehicles, to attack other pets, or to create a disturbance in any other way;

Any Owner concerned with a pet related problem should do the following:

A. Attempt to arrive at a solution to the problem with the pet owner in a courteous and helpful manner.

B. If personal attempts at a solution fail, then a written complaint should be filed with the Association. The complaint should document this problem as thoroughly as possible.
Documentation should include identification of pet(s) involved, a complete description of the problem or disturbance, and dates and times of disturbances (whenever possible) as well as a brief description of informal attempts to solve the problem.

C. The Association will first attempt to obtain an informal solution to the problem. If such a solution is not possible, the Managing Agent will refer the matter to the Board of Directors; the Association may have offending pets removed from the property upon ten (10) days written notice from the Board of Directors.

D. Suspected stray pets should be reported to the appropriate Fairfax County official (for possible identification) prior to contacting the Association.

E. All bites, attacks by pets, or diseased animals should be reported to the appropriate [Name] County officials prior to notifying the Association.

Moving forward, I would:
1. Put dog-owner on notice that a complaint was received about the dog's aggressive behavior. I would express concern that if a child or other animal was involve, there could have been dire circumstances.
2. Ask dog-owner what action he is taking to prevent recurrence.
3. Offer mediation.

Locally, we have 2 community mediation centers where 2 neighbors can go to at no cost or minimal cost. One is sponsored by local government. The other is sponsored by a church. A mediation should occur in a neutral setting where everyone can feel safe and protected.

I see no reason to focus on the "board responsibility"/"not board responsibility" question until after dog-owner responds. This follows your first principle that people should try to work things out themselves.

>Pets shall not be permitted upon the Common Areas unless they are carried, leashed or under voice control by the owner.

The "voice control" should not be allowed in this rule. (In my opinion).

With respect to the original issue- maybe have the attackee inform animal control of the event; then if it happens again there will be less inclination to give a warning and more aggressive enforcement is more likely.

Owners should realize that some people find it disturbing to be approached by an unleashed dog, however "friendly" the owner thinks it is.

Tim - You and I both know that our local PD will usually not take any action unless the officer witnesses the event him/her-self, unless there is actually a dog bite incident.

Tim

If the two dogs were on a leash then did they not meet the associations rule? The association cannot control how close one walked to the dogs that allowed the dog to jump on them.

My opinion is it is not a BOD issue. It is between the two owners and the local animal control authority.

The response from the owner is almost like they want the association to pay for their damaged shirt.

Kerry

Our docs make no mention of the HOA having any authority to remove an animal and I would be very hesitant to ever do so. Who do you even call to haul the animal away?

Tim,

An association has no business trying to regulate the conduct of animals and their owners; there are public agencies for this and complaints about animals should be directed there. The victim of the dog bite should have reported the incident to animal control.

Your association needs to get rid of that pet policy and let the proper public agencies do their job.

BTW, why on earth would you forward a copy of the owner's complaint about a dog to the head of the architectural committee?

Then as Larry said, the rule should be removed. But as long as the rule is on the books, it sends the message that the HOA has some level of responsibility. Which is the reaction I stated and I think many HOs would have.

My Vice President had a huge German Shepard. He walked it without a leash around the neighborhood sometimes. It was a very well behaved older dog. It was extremely sweet dog with a good temperament. However, one day he was walking it and ran into another neighbor. She was holding her cat. The cat saw the dog and completely freaked out! The cat owner was scratched up pretty badly. The dog had not done anything.

Would this be a HOA matter? No. We do have leash laws. This would have to be handled by the animal control as with any animal issues we dealt with. They are responsible and the authority to handle such issues.

Now, did the vice-president receive any votes from the membership for re-election? No. The story got out and people decided they did not want to support his run for the board.

There is more to the story... The person who was attacked by the cat became my replacement as President... However, I had already quit by then. The story became quite distorted and I just walked away from it all...

Our docs do give us the authority to have an animal removed, JohnC. This would be, of course, after confirmed incidents of the animal being dangerous, proper procedure, etc.

Tim's docs also give his HOA that authority.

We've never had to enforce this rule, nor even demand that a dog be muzzled, but we could. In elevator buildings, these issues can be pretty serious.

We can order a dog removed and if the dog owner does not comply we would take further steps such as working with animal control or going to court. I'm not going to look up what that would be in my state.

It would be foolish for me as a board member, IMO, to allow a hazard to walk in our corridors and be on our elevators without our Board acting. I see it no differently than permitting trip hazards to remain unprepared, or burned out lights in dark areas to remain unreplaced. I'm pretty sure my HOA would be liable if we have knowledge of danger and ignore it.

I do not see proven dangerous dogs as a neighbor to neighbor issue, but as a problem for an HOA.

Again, Rules and Regulations, in which pet/owner behavior would be addressed, must be fair and reasonable. What's fair and reasonable in one type of complex may not be in another. My complex, as is John's, is in a PUD , with lots of open area.

Larry,

The Architectural Committee is the enforcement arm for our Association. I don't really agree with it, especially in situations like this, but that is how it's setup in our Association.

Not a lawyer however if the HOA took any kind of stance to "control" dogs, wouldn't they be left open for liabilities in the future?

We do not have anything written for dogs and have always, meaning at every single annual meeting, and to the same people, stress that we are not the babysitters and they have to call animal control.

Doesn't fit your facts Tim, but:

Our township code says animal must be under owner control.
Our HOA rule says animal must be on a leash.

We limit our role as an HOA to notification only.
We notify complaining HO who to contact for township enforcement.
We notify pet-owner that a complaint has been lodged.
The end.

If we were in Kerry's situation where pet incidents could occur inside a building, we would probably have some level of enforcement - and a more detailed set of rules.

I do think that a right to remove rule could create liability if not enforced. Whether a shirt got ripped or skin was pierced, that's just the luck of the draw. There was sufficient aggression IMO to escalate internally - if you have a removal rule. At minimum, I think you need to rewrite that rule to clarify what actions by an animal will trigger removal.