Five years after forming a task force to tame the problem of unleashed dogs in public places, the town of Harpswell has made it clear that 2025 is the year to rein in pet owners who let their mutts run around without restraint.
The 2024 town report said as much: “public outreach on leash laws will be a priority in 2025,” the section about animal control states.
The issue, while not always contentious, remains under the category of “problem,” according to Animal Control Officer James Bebarski, Select Board Chair Kevin Johnson, and a member of that 2020 task force, Ned Simmons.
“The issue has come back,” Johnson said. “Dog owners are a passionate bunch.”
“We have this assumption that people feel free to mention to a dog owner that their dog should be leashed,” Bebarski said. “Nobody is going to do that. It’s confrontational.”
“Nobody knows how to complain about this,” Simmons said. “Let’s try something different. The current rules are not working.”
The town’s current dog leash rules identify three town properties — Cliff Trail, Devil’s Back and Mitchell Field — where dog owners must have their pets on a leash from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. “and under owner control at all other times.” Giant’s Stairs requires leashes at all times. Mackerel Cove only requires that dogs be “under owner control at all times” without requiring leashes.
Harpswell’s Animal Control Ordinance, last updated in 2011, along with rules set by the Select Board, give the animal control officer authority to levy fines ranging from $50 to $500 for dog owners allowing their pets to run at large or cause a nuisance.
In separate interviews, Simmons, Bebarski, and Johnson suggested that while most dog owners comply with leash rules, noncompliance is noticeable by even casual users of public places. People don’t want to offend dog owners, and dog owners don’t want their pets criticized. They agree that both dog owners and people out for a walk without pets are concerned about unleashed canines.
“If you get a bunch of people with dogs, they (the owners) are going to do what they want to do,” said Johnson, who owns a dog. “Everybody thinks their dog is perfect.”
Johnson advocated for strong local leash laws several years ago. “I live on a mile-long dirt road and my dog is on a leash,” he said.
Simmons, a retired engineer who lives in Harpswell, said he cannot walk Cliff Trail with his wife because she is afraid of unleashed dogs. He said he has been bitten by an unleashed dog on public land in Harpswell, and knows others who have had the same experience.
The couple has no idea whether loose dogs will respond to their owners’ voice commands, he said. As far as Simmons is concerned, the signs on Cliff Trail amount to this message: “Call the animal control officer if you have any issues.”
That person is Bebarski. “When I stop people with an unleashed dog, I give them a verbal warning. I’m not apt to write a ticket,” Bebarski said. “If I wrote a ticket every time I saw an unleashed dog, I’d be a failure at my job.” The ticket comes with a fine, although it can be contested in court.
“At some point, all dogs are going to do something you don’t expect,” Bebarski said. In the town report, he noted that animal control responded to 251 calls last year and a “significant portion” involved dogs at large. The report also stated that “several incidents involved dogs attacking people, other dogs, or domestic animals.”
The unpredictability of all dogs, and the reluctance of many people to admit to their fear of dogs, almost ensures a lack of decisive action on an issue most agree exists, Select Board member David Chipman said.
“There’s a lot going on here,” he said.
A common response from dog owners caught breaking the leash rules is “My dog doesn’t bite,” Johnson said. “It’s the same as parents with a high school kid: ‘My kid doesn’t bite.'”
On a recent Wednesday morning, Sherry Britton, a former dog training professional, was walking her four leashed papillons with a friend, Mark Bartlett, at Mitchell Field. It was leash-mandated time, around 11 a.m. Britton, who worked for Pet Positive Inc. in Gorham and Cape Elizabeth, said she will not walk her little dogs without help after numerous encounters with unleashed dogs.
“I am fully aware of the dangers,” Britton said. “I have trouble with off-leash dogs.”
“Some owners feel entitled,” she added. “They don’t believe their dog is aggressive. There needs to be public awareness.”
As for a walker asking a stranger to put their dog on a leash, Britton said, “It’s a social fear. It’s a social anxiety and a fear of offending people.”
“I’ll approach people,” Britton said. “They’ll say, ‘My dog is friendly.’ People anthropomorphize their dogs. But at the end of the day, they’re animals.”
Before pausing her walk to talk to the Anchor, Britton and Bartlett passed Deb Bowdoin, of Cundy’s Harbor, who was walking her black Labrador retriever, Bodie, on a leash.
“The rules are fine,” Bowdoin said. “In the summer I’ll take him here early in the morning and let him play in the water. I keep him under control after 10. I know some people have a real fear of dogs. Rules are rules.”
What’s next? Chipman said the town did considerable work looking into public dog parks in nearby communities. That approach comes with its own set of problems, such as cleanup and big dogs intimidating small dogs.
Neither the Select Board nor Simmons — possibly the town’s most vocal advocate for a reboot of leash rules — expect imminent change to the status quo.
Human nature is a common thread found in conversations about leashed and unleashed dogs. Chipman, tongue in cheek, implied that the dogs hold all the cards. “My dog has me trained,” he said.
