Carroll Hosts Forums on Loose Dogs

After her daughter died, Dorothy Carroll moved from Austin to Tamarack Shores in Canyon Lake to start a new life.

She didn’t expect she’d be forced to watch her neighbors’ dogs die, too, sometimes violently, after being hit by cars right in front of her house.

Nor did she ever imagine she’d need a taser to fend off aggressive dogs when going across the street to her mailbox.

When Carroll walks her rescue chihuahua Maggie around her front yard, she keeps her on a leash, afraid that if they tried walking down the block or around the neighborhood they’d “have little to no chance of surviving injury or worse if attacked by one or more vicious dogs, as so many others have been in Comal County.”

Too many people in Canyon Lake let their dogs run free, and Carroll said she’s had enough.

Dissatisfied with Comal County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control’s refusal — as she sees it — to enforce existing laws, she founded Canyon Lake Residents Safety alliance last summer to start a dialog about the issue.

This year, the old-school Texas Democrat decided to run against incumbent Republican Jen Crownover, County Commissioner Pct. 4, in the November midterm elections, in part, to force the county to take proper measures with loose dogs.

Dogs are just one part of her platform — Carroll thinks county government in general needs more accountability.

But with midterms still months away, she plans to double down on Canyon Lakes’ loose dog problem by holding two forums in July.

From 2 to 4 p.m. July 11 at Tye Preston Memorial Library, 16311 South Access Rd., Canyon Lake, she’ll discuss how Animal Control enforces county regulations and state statutes on unleashed pets. Flyers — which she says Animal Control can’t afford — will be available at this general session.

From 6 to 8 p.m. July 25, also at Tye Preston Memorial Library, Carroll will host another public forum on loose dogs, this time featuring Kimberly Glover, the new supervisor of Animal Control. She hopes a Canyon Lake resident, who suffered a vicious attack from a loose dog, will be emotionally ready to speak.

The woman was so badly injured by the dog she required hip-replacement surgery.

There are plenty of other horror stories Carroll said she plans to share about the failure of Comal County’s approach to animal control, including that of a child bit by a dog recently released from quarantine after biting another child.

Also on her agenda is taking proper measures against owners of loose dogs and others who shoot and poison pets “for sport.”

“A couple of months ago, a man said, ‘Let me explain it to you, Ms. Carroll. If a dog or cat comes on to my property, I shoot them…it’s a sport in Comal County. A lot of us do it.

“If they would just enforce the leash law, the rabies law and the prohibition against dogs running at large, guess what? The dog attacks and killing of pets for ‘sport’ would be virtually eliminated.”

To learn more about Comal County’s animal-control regulations, click here.