Grand Lakes February 2018

GRAND LAKES PET ANNOUNCEMENTS
SCOOPAGE PET POOPAGE
It may not be a fabulous way to walk, but please have courtesy to
please scoop when your pet poops during your walks. Throughout
the community trails, you will find areas to toss your pet’s poopage
and in some areas, there are also bags. Carry your own grocery bags
- you’ll be recycling at the same time! Many of your neighbors work
hard with their lawncare and landscaping. Come with a scooper
and a recycled grocery bag or anything else. Picking up after your
pets shows your respect for every Grand Lakes homeowner and our
beautiful community. Pet feces damages lawns and many residents
are working hard to maintaining their grass!
GRAND LAKES PET LOST & FOUND
Do you have pets, love animals and want to help your neighbors who
have pets? Grand Lakes has a Pet Lost & Found service which helps
reunite lost or found pets with their families. To receive pet “amber”
alerts, please email Lisa at grandlakes4pets@aol.com and ask to be
added to her list. If you ever find a lost pet or lose one of your own
you’ll be glad to have this service at your fingertips. Please see more
information on the “Helpful Numbers for Grand Lakes” page.
GRAND LAKES PET LOST & FOUND ON FACEBOOK!
Be sure to check out the Facebook pages for pets lost and found
in our area: www.facebook.com/GrandLakes4Pets. If residents
“like” this page, they will receive even more info. regarding pets
for adoption, as well as those found and lost.
GRAND LAKES DOG PARK
Grand Lakes dog park is located in the southeast corner of Grand
Lakes: from south Fry Road go south on Rainwood Park Drive, left at
Central Park (Grand Brooks Lane), left on Emily Park, left on Grandwood
Lane, then right on Calico Crossing. The park and parking lot
is on your right toward the end of the street
5 STEPS TO A HAPPIER HEALTHIER PET
1. Protect your pet from extreme weather (heat, cold, rain, etc.).
2. Keep indoors or in a fenced yard and on a leash when walked.
3. Make sure they’re up to date with vaccinations.
4. Always make sure they’re wearing identification, so they
can be returned to you if lost.
5. Spay or neuter your pet.
Texas Lab Rescue has labs available that are waiting to go to their
forever home. Please check out their website at txlabrescue.org.
KEEP YOUR PETS ON LEASHES
For the safety of all Grand Lakes residents, please use all precautions
with your pets and keep them on leashes when walking pets in the
community EVEN IF YOU FEEL YOUR PET IS HARMLESS. If you do come
across a loose pet or a pet that may be lost, please try to take in the
pet temporarily to your home if you can and immediately email the
Grand Lakes Pets Lost and Found: grandlakes4pets@aol.com.
PLEASE NOTE - PETS ON LEASHES
It is the law in Fort Bend County that all pets must be vaccinated for
rabies, registered and restrained. All animals, when outside of an
owner’s means of restraint (i.e., in a fenced back yard), must be on a
leash. For the safety of all residents, please use all precautions with
your pets and keep them on leashes when walking pets in the community
EVEN IF YOU FEEL YOUR PET IS HARMLESS. If you see ANY animal
roaming freely in the neighborhood, immediately call Animal Control
at 281-342-1512. Even if you recognize the animal, be very careful
approaching it, as you do not know how it will react; if you can safely
retrieve the animal, then call the owner. Otherwise, Animal Control is
your best and safest option.
PREVENT EXCESSIVE BARKING!
Dogs left alone all day get lonely, bored and restless. Many find
relief in barking. Some respond noisily to any and all activity.
Nothing is as annoying as incessant barking-even for dog lovers.
If your dog is a yapper or a yowler, please consider some of these
bark-abatement ideas to keep the noise down in your area. Your
neighbors will thank you!
• Training. Training not only helps your dog, you’ll be surprised how
much it helps you, too. You may get some insight into why your dog
barks so much, or what it is trying to communicate.
• Citronella collars.
• Confinement. Sometimes simply bringing an outspoken dog
indoors or confining it to a crate cuts down on the disturbance to
neighbors.
• For inside dogs, reduce stimulus. Close drapes to help muffle street
noise, or leave a radio on to mask it.
• Companionship. Dogs are pack animals; they need companionship-a
cat, bird or another dog. Consider a mid-day visit from a
pet-sitting service or drop your pooch off at a friend’s place or a
day-care facility once or twice a week.
FORT BEND COUNTY “LEASH LAW”
Animal control authorities are permitted to enter your Property to patrol
and remove pets. Pets must be registered, licensed and inoculated
as required by law.
As a dog owner, you are responsible for the control of your dog. If your
dog is one that ‘makes objectionable noise,’ you must make every effort
to respect your Neighbor’s right to their ‘peace and quiet.’
When your dog is not in your yard, it is imperative that you keep your
dog on a leash at all times. While your dog is friendly to you and your
family, imagine the consequences if it were to harm someone while it
was ‘roaming free.’
Please respect other resident’s right to walk the common area ground
without fear of attack from an unleashed dog.
Laws are written to ensure that owned animals are confined to their
property or kept on a leash to free a community of unrestrained and
free-roaming animals. Although most dog bites occur on the property
where the dog lives, unrestrained or free-roaming dogs do pose a substantial
threat to the public. In addition, unrestrained animals are at
increased risk of being bitten by rabies infected wildlife. Enforcement
of restraint laws is essential in enhancing the animal control program’s
efforts to reduce the risk of rabies in our community.
LICENSING OF DOGS AND CATS
The primary benefit of licensing animals is identification,
should that animal become lost. Licensing also:
• Ensures that rabies vaccination are current.
• Allows for quick identification in case of a bite incident.
• Provides revenue to offset the administration costs of the
animal control program.
VACCINATION
Rabies vaccinations are a prerequisite for licensing dogs and cats
because they are an important control measure for the public health
threat of rabies. In addition to protecting pets, rabies vaccinations
provide a barrier between infected wild animals and humans.
6 February 2018 | Community Newsletter