Paducah’s dog muzzling ordinance is up for debate after members of the community brought up concerns at a city commission meeting Tuesday. Past Paducah Kennel Club President Patience Renzulli was on the committee that set up the ordinance in 2002 and said there was once a need for such a law.
"There was a trend of bringing aggressive dogs to the after dinner downtown program as a way of threatening," Renzulli said. "They would be brought on long chains to clear a path in front of the person with the dog."
But now Renzulli said she believes there isn’t a need for the ordinance. That it’s hard to enforce after many more dog owners have moved into downtown Paducah. Renzulli said it’s not only a nuisance for these responsible pets owners, but for their dogs as well.
"I was distressed to see that people were using the wrong kind of muzzles," Renzulli said. "They were using a glock muzzle that holds the dog’s mouth shut, which is extremely dangerous because that means the dog can’t pant."
Renzulli said large community events are not a good place to bring pets and said she hopes public information will be made available to educate dog owners. Paducah is one of the only cities in western Kentucky that requires a muzzle ordinance for animals in public. City commissioners votes on the ordinance September 27th.
