Re: 'FLC toughens up on unleashed dogs' [Village News, 11/11/10]

I walk my dog frequently at the Los Jilgueros preserve and I think I can speak on behalf of many of the dog owners who enjoy the preserve.

We appreciate the use of the preserve with the understanding that we are guests of the FLC. Most of us have well behaved dogs. I am guilty in the past of letting my dog run free on the paths. I was a new dog owner and didn’t take my responsibility seriously.

That has changed as I was scolded and educated on proper dog and owner behavior by other dog owners. Because we don’t want to lose the privilege of using the preserve, we have tried hard to self-police ourselves. If one of the dogs is out of control, we will ask the dog owner to get his/her dog back under control. However, when it comes to putting the picture of a Belgian Malinois baring his teeth on the cover, I believe this is exploitive journalism with the sole intent of selling newspapers.

Malinois are highly trained police dogs, not family pets. They are very expensive and generally used for protection. A Malinois is not at all representative at all of the dogs at the preserve. Most of us have rescued our dogs from the pound; with few exceptions they are friendly mutts, not highly trained potential killers like the Malinois pictured.

Brad Jordan