The city of Blue Lake passed a new dog leash law that went into effect today

The citizens of Blue Lake raised concerns about dogs running off leash so the city council of Blue Lake created a new leash law.

“We changed our ordinance, which used to say that dogs would be under the control of their owners and we changed it to dogs must be on a leash no more than six feet from the owner,” said Adelene Jones, the Mayor of Blue Lake. 

This wasn’t a law the residents voted on but it was unanimously decided on by the city council of Blue Lake. The goal of this new leash law is to prevent any attacks or unsafe behavior from dogs. Also, this isn’t the first time this conversation has been brought up in Blue Lake.

“I was mayor about 30 years ago and we brought it up then,” Jones said. “Most people then felt that the ordinance was fine with being under the control of the owner. But recently we’ve had some incidences, luckily nothing fatal where dogs have been off-leash. And so we decided it with a lot of input from the community and the citizens that we needed to have a leash law.”

The consequences of not abiding by this law will first come with a warning from law enforcement. The city hopes people will recognize the law’s importance when it comes to safety and won’t have to go beyond the warning phase.

“We are under the purview of our sheriff department,” Jones said. “So ultimately, that’s where it could end up. But first, I would say go to city hall and report anything that you’ve seen that is unsafe as far as our dogs not on their leashes.”

If you find yourself in Blue Lake walking your dog, make sure you have a leash on you. The city of Blue Lake does have a dog park in town where dogs can play freely or they can splash in Mad River and not have to wear a leash.