A Kentucky developer sent a surprise letter to property owners informing them that over a dozen breeds of “aggressive” dogs, including pit bulls, have now been banned in the neighborhood.
Homeowners in Lexington’s McConnell’s Trace neighborhood received the letters sent by the neighborhood’s developer listing the many dog breeds that will no longer be allowed to reside in homes in the area. The list includes large dogs such as German shepherds, Great Danes, Dobermanns, Saint Bernards, and several kinds of pit bulls, among others, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Home Owners Association president Josh McCurn confirmed the policy change but said he thinks previous homeowners may be grandfathered into the new rules and won’t have to dump their pets.
McCurn also said that he and the other members of the HOA did not have any part in the drafting of the new policy and that it came straight from the community’s developer, Anderson Properties.
“As the president, I’ve reached out to the neighbors and said I would be happy to have a one to one sit-down with them … and relay any message to the developer,” McCurn told the Herald-Leader.
The HOA will be discussing the policy at an upcoming meeting scheduled for next month.
According to some reports, the banned dog breeds include German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Mastiffs, Doberman Pinschers, Huskies, Alaskan malamutes, Chows, Great Danes, St. Bernards, Akitas, a several pit bulls (including American Staffordshire Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers and “any dogs containing characteristics of these breeds”).
A pit bull fan who helped found a local club supporting Pit Bull owners was disappointed by the ban.
Shannon Smith, of pit bull group Lexington Pit Crew, said that pit bull owners have to be extremely alert to local rules on dog ownership.
“You have to be on top of your game,” Smith told the paper. “If you have a bully breed, you do have to watch it because regardless of the situation, you’re going to be to blame.”
Smith added that the problem with pit bulls are usually in how owners err in raising them, not in the dogs themselves. She also lamented that the breed’s bad reputation is often unfairly held against other breeds that only resemble pit bulls.
Last year Lexington was sent reeling when a woman was killed by Pit Bulls as she stood outside her home spreading birdseed on Christmas Eve.
Lexington homeowner Johnny Saylor awoke with a start on Christmas Eve after hearing a commotion outside. The man walked out onto his porch only to be confronted by a snarling dog. Saylor quickly went back in, retrieved a pistol, then came out and wounded the dog.
But the situation became heartbreaking when he went out into the yard and found his wife, Lorrain Saylor, bloodied and unresponsive on the ground with a second pit bull standing near her. Saylor shot and killed the second dog and called paramedics.
Unfortunately, his wife was pronounced dead at the scene, killed by the two dogs as she stood feeding the birds in her yard.
It was later discovered that the dogs were running wild and their owner, 42-year-old Johnny Dale Lankford, was already in jail on unrelated charges.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.