Fort Simpson (Feb 10/06) - Some residents of Wild Rose Acres are raising concerns about dogs that are allowed to roam.

Marion Storm, a resident of Wild Rose, said there has been an ongoing problem with dangerous dogs who roam off their owner's property.

Marion Storm walks in Wild Rose Acres with her dog Penny who was attacked this week by two other dogs. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Storm, who goes for regular group walks in the morning, said her choices of places to walk is getting smaller because she is afraid of the dogs on certain streets.

"My freedom to walk is getting to a point where I can only walk back and forth in my front yard," said Storm.

On Feb. 2, Storm was walking with her seven-year-old German Shepherd Penny from Villeneuve Vista towards the highway when another German Shepherd and a young black lab approached them.

On the way past they only had a little scuffle like dogs normally have when they meet, said Storm.

But on the way back the dogs attacked Penny. There were tufts of fur flying and a lot of yelping, said Storm who managed to break up the fight by using a low, gravely voice that shocked the dogs.

"I was really afraid," said Storm.

In almost two years this is the first attack Storm has seen.

While she doesn't have problems with dogs that stay in their yards, Storm would like to see owners take responsibility for dogs that have complaints against them by keeping them on a leash if necessary.

"It could have a potential of becoming dangerous," said Storm about the dogs that have started to form packs.

Connie Villeneuve, who has lived in Wild Rose since 1997, said the problem is not a new one.

Villeneuve said there are a number of dogs that travel together. The dogs look healthy, so Villeneuve said she assumes their owners let them out in the morning and they run around for the day.

"We can't walk because of these dogs," she said.

Kim Hardisty agrees. She's lived in Wild Rose for more than 25 years and said dogs have been an issue for the last three or four years.

Hardisty, who goes for walks with a small group of people around 6 a.m., said she's started driving a vehicle to someone else's house to start her walk in order to avoid some of the dogs.

The walkers have mapped out a route to avoid the meanest dogs and know which driveways to walk on the other side of the road from, said Hardisty.

"It's scary," she said.

Although some owners she's talked to have tied up their dogs, Hardisty said others ask her what she is doing out so early.

"I think the onus is on the pet owner," said Hardisty.

Bert Tsetso, the village's by-law officer, said this is the first he has heard of problems in Wild Rose.

"I've never known any number of animals to be packing together," said Tsetso.

Tsetso said he patrols every day and has been up to Wild Rose a few times in the past week.

If he receives a complaint, Tsetso said he goes to examine the situation. A village by-law states that dogs should be kept on a tether. The fine for letting dogs wander starts at $25 for the first offence and climbs to $50 and then $75.