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Upper Valley Dog Park Rules Under Review After Pitbull Is Shot

A committee that oversees a dog park in the Upper Valley is reviewing the park’s regulations after an off-duty police officer last weekend shot and killed a pitbull while it was fighting with his two huskies.

The Watson Upper Valley dog park committee in Hartford talked about adding volunteer ambassadors for the park's busy times to help monitor behavior. Police may also patrol the park more regularly and a new rule may limit one dog per owner at the park at any given time.

What will not change is the legal ability to bring a gun onto the grounds.

Parks and Recreation Executive Director Tad Nunez says there used to be rules prohibiting guns in the park but they were found to be in violation of federal laws.

“Several years ago it said no bearing of arms of any kind and a person came - it happened to be at the dog park - with a gun” he said. “They called the police. Police came and found out nothing was wrong with that.”

Vermont State Police are investigating the shooting last weekend of a pitbull by the off-duty Hartford police officer. 

Rebecca Sananes was VPR's Upper Valley Reporter. Before joining the VPR Newsroom, she was the Graduate Fellow at WBUR and a researcher on a Frontline documentary.
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