MOULTRIE, Ga. — Resident Ted Schwarz hates the way his neighbor’s dogs bark. But things are better than they were: Not long ago, the animals did more than bark.

“My wife works at Plymel’s down the road and she has to be there at 4 o’clock in the morning. But she can’t get any sleep because the neighbor’s dogs are barking,” Schwarz said. 

“These dogs just roam around the neighborhood, barking and growling at the kids playing and people walking around outside. A little girl was riding her bike down the road, the group of dogs ran out after her, she fell off her bike and cut up her leg. So I ran out and helped bandage her up and helped her home. 

“But now the people who own them, they’ve got the gates closed and the dogs inside now,” he said.

So, what can you do if there are dogs roaming around your neighborhood as well?

“If there is an issue with a dog in the neighborhood, the first thing to do would be to give us a call,” said Drew Durham, the new director of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Humane Society. “We have animal control officers that are on staff to investigate the call and if need be, bring the dog back here. We’ll try to get to them as fast as we can, because it’s important to keep the neighborhood safe.”

Durham — who started the director’s job last week — noted the Humane Society is down one animal control officer now, but he promised the group would respond as quickly as possible, especially if a dog is being aggressive.

Report a dog problem to the society at 985-5463.

If the dog is an immediate threat, though, that changes things. Durham said in that case, call 911 or the sheriff’s department as quickly as possible.

The Humane Society gets about five calls a day about stray dogs, said Tanya Dean, the interim director who’s been helping Durham settle in.

“It fluctuates greatly,” she said. “There is a leash law in the county in certain residential areas, especially within the city limits. If there’s not a leash law in your area, it does not mean you can let your dogs roam around freely. 

“People do shoot dogs that come in their yard, so for their safety, you need to keep your dogs on a leash or in a fenced in area,” Dean said

The leash law states simply that owners within city limits and in residential areas cannot let their dogs wander around unsupervised, according to Justin Cox, department head of the county Compliance Office. They should be contained indoors or within fenced areas or, as the law is named, on a leash.

“The incorporated areas have leash laws in residentially zoned areas like subdivisions like Sweetwater or Riverwood, etc.,” Cox said. “There is not a leash law in the agriculturally zoned areas of the county, but they can’t just be wandering around. There is also a state dangerous dog ordinance, which applies to all zones. 

“The dog has to be in a fenced-in yard or on a leash, inside the house or anything like that, but they can’t just be roaming around,” Cox said. 

Schwarz said he wishes everyone would keep control of their dogs.

“It doesn’t matter if the dogs don’t bite, that’s not the point; if a pack of dogs run after a small child on her bike, of course she’s going to be afraid,” said Schwarz. “And people will shoot dogs who come into their yards sometimes. Owners need to keep their dogs from roaming around. It’s better for the safety of the people in the neighborhood and the dogs themselves.”