Nuisance Dog

There is a dog that has been roaming loose around our condo community for several weeks now. It barks, chases cars, poops in yards, etc. Problem is, it doesn’t belong to anyone who lives in our community, but instead to someone living in a nearby trailer park who just allows the dog to roam around freely. Our community has a fence around most of its perimeter, but not continuously. There are places where the dog can easily wander in, which it does with monotonous regularity. Our board is being notified by one of our homeowners that she has experienced the dog barking at her outside her car door when she pulls up into her driveway, trapping her inside because she is very afraid of dogs. Is this a problem the HOA should be expected to solve since the dog does not belong to one of our own homeowners who are subject to HOA rules regarding keeping dogs on a leash and under control? Or should this or other homeowners solve this themselves?

Our local municipality has a leash law, so if your community does as well, a complaint to the correct department would be the place to start.

An HOA has no power to fine the owner or catch the dog or do anything useful, so that's a non-starter. At best the board would complain to the same department - if the local animal control officer gets multiple complaints about the same dog, they'll be more likely to take action.

-- I think the quickest solution by far is to call the city or county's 'animal control' department (if it exists). Photos of the dog may help.

-- I think the HOA technically does have responsibility for ensuring the common areas are safe. So if the Board were informed of this roaming dog, with a proper complaint about the common areas not being safe and photos of the dog on the common areas, and someone got bit, then in my opinion the HOA might very well end up being held liable. The Board should take action, but an honorable Owner will, on her or his own, contact the city or county's animal control department.

The problem I see is that the HOA's ability to fix this (legally) is limited. They have the ability to fix cracked sidewalks and all the other stuff, but what can they do to keep a dog off their property? At best they can inform others such as the animal control department, but they rely on someone else to do their job. And even if animal control does their thing, a non-compliant owner will mean that the dog will continue to roam no matter how many fines or citations the owner receives (we actually had such an issue in my community).

This situation is different from an HOA member who lets their dog run. That person is bound by the CC&Rs as well as local leash laws, the HOA can take action directly against the owner, and if the CC&Rs allow, the HOA may remove a nuisance animal from the community.

I think the HOA should at least warn homeowners that there is a nuisance animal in the community, that they've notified animal control, but that the HOA can't (legally) prevent the dog from getting onto HOA property.

(Our problem was solved when the dog died. No comment on whether it died naturally or was helped along the way by non-legal methods...)

Or what one should and shouldn't attempt.

I think it's often the non-attempt that will hurt a HOA.