Leash laws differ between Columbia and Boone County.
The Kramer family is on a first-name basis with a pit bull that lives a short way down the road from them. Her name is Bella.
Mary Kramer has never trusted Bella, who often sat growling in the Kramers’ front yard.
But Kramer never talked to Bella’s owner because “you never know how somebody’s going to take it. I don’t want to be confrontational.”
The dog never did any real harm other than eating her dogs’ food from time to time and chasing her horses. So she tolerated Bella.
At 8:18 a.m. Wednesday, Mary Kramer lost her patience. Walking toward the driveway to catch the school bus, Kramer’s 10-year-old son, Tyler, heard the gravel behind him move. He turned his head and saw Bella mid-air, lunging at him. His mom had told him if a dog ever attacked he should hide his face and neck. He covered his face with his hands and screamed just as Bella wrestled him to the grass in front of his house. Bella bit into Tyler’s bookbag and shook the small boy. The dog also grabbed his jeans and ripped a hole in them.
Inside, Mary and her husband, Tom, heard Tyler’s shouts. With their tiny dachshund mix, Dixie, in tow, the couple rushed outside.
Bella ran off. Mary called 911, and Tyler cried without stopping for 20 minutes. He was too upset to go to school immediately.
It took more than three hours for Animal Control to get to the Kramer house, a response time that is not uncommon with only two officers to cover the whole county, Animal Control Officer Jean Easley said.
When Easley arrived, Bella was back on her own property. Unlike in Columbia, dogs in Boone County are not required to be on a leash when off their owners’ property. But they must be accompanied by an owner or within voice control.
Several counties in Missouri have bans on pit bulls. In February, Rep. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-St. Louis, introduced a bill that would require all pit bull owners in Missouri to pay a $500 permit fee and keep the dog muzzled and leashed if on public or private property not entirely owned by the pit bull owner.
Even though Mary Kramer says Bella was breaking the law, an Animal Control officer didn’t see it happen, so officers couldn’t take the dog. On a visit to the neighborhood Thursday afternoon, the dog was not chained or contained by a fence.
Easley admits it’s a glitch in the law. “The county commissioners don’t want to make Farmer Brown in the middle of nowhere keep his dog tied up,” she said.
Part of the trouble is the Kramers’ house is so close to an area where dogs can run free without an owner or a leash, Easley wasn’t even sure Wednesday morning what the proper action was. Looking at a map after visiting the Kramers, though, she decided county service laws applied.
In an area like East St. Charles Road, residents rarely call Animal Control officers. Easley said she hadn’t been to the road in a couple of years, and consequently, residents sometimes think “dogs can run loose because Animal Control isn’t out there.”
“Even if they’re friendly, though, dogs can’t run loose there,” she said.
Animal Control does not have computerized systems, so keeping track of the number of bites or attacks is difficult with a small staff, Easley said. “We do see more incidents when the weather is nicer because more people and more dogs are out,” she said.
Because the Kramers filed a complaint stating that Bella had been on their property without a leash, Easley said, Bella’s owner, whom she identified as Jeff Smith of the 8700 block of East St. Charles Road, would be issued a court summons. Smith called Easley on Thursday and said he’d like to avoid a ticket. He expressed an interest in speaking with the Kramers, Easley said. Smith did not return calls to the Missourian.
Penalties vary, Easley said, but a first-time offense usually warrants $20 to $100, plus court costs.
Easley said other neighbors told her they have no problem with Bella and even let her play with their children.
But Mary Kramer’s distrust is growing.
On Thursday morning Tyler wouldn’t walk to the bus stop alone. Mary Kramer said she isn’t afraid, but she runs an in-house insurance agency, Sentry Insurance, and she’s afraid customers might get scared.
“If I had had a gun out, we wouldn’t have trouble now,” she said. On Thursday, she called Animal Control and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department to determine the legality of shooting a dog on her property.
Capt. Greg Vandegriffe of the Sheriff’s Department said because state law allows the shooting of dogs who attack livestock, attacking a person should be no different.
“If you fear for your life,” he said, “you could shoot the dog.”
Easley said she would never discourage anyone from reporting a loose or vicious dog, but reporting sometimes leads to “neighbor retaliation,” she said. “If Smith sees the Kramers’ dogs out, it could be that he’ll report them.”