City Forbids Dogs from Visiting Their Former Owners’ Graves

Deceased dog owners prohibited from receiving visits from their four-legged friends.

Dogs are no longer permitted to visit their former owners buried in Concord, N.H. cemeteries, but that was probably not the intent of city council members who were concerned about reckless owners allowing their dogs to defecate on the final resting places of former citizens.

The city council voted Monday to enact an ordinance that punishes violators with fines between $50 and $1,000 for bringing their dog(s) inside Concord’s 13 public cemeteries. An exception has been made for service dogs, though no accomodations were made for those belonging to the deceased that might want to pay their last respects.

According to the Concord Monitor, several city council members expressed concern about the dog ban’s implications on law abiding citizens who do not allow their dogs to use cemeteries as “dog parks,” contrary to the opinion of the councilor who proposed the measure, Steve Shurtleff.

“Councilor Candace Bouchard asked what the measure would mean for people who regularly visit a loved one’s gravesite with their dog,” the Concord Monitor notes. “Pets bring so much comfort and safety,” she said.

Currently, the Concord Monitor is polling its readers to determine if this ordinance is reasonable. Results show 267 support the dog ban at cemeteries while 140 disapprove and 22 have no opinion on the matter. Here’s your chance to chime-in if the issue hits close to home or touches a nerve.

One respondent to the article’s comments section provided an argument that city council members likely did not take in to consideration when crafting this ordinance. Dog owners who frequent local cemeteries, says “DiDogWalker,” might actually be beneficial to maintaining overall cleanliness and ridding unwanted criminal elements from lurking among and disrespecting the deceased.

In my five years enjoying Blossom Hill Cemetery I have picked up more than my own dog’s droppings. I have also picked up beer cans, cigarette butts, trash and any other poo I come across figuring that something like this would ruin it for the rest of us, as it has. Also, some of this poo is from wildlife such as raccoons, skunks, deer, bear; not from dogs. What about the vandalism, grave diggings, flag burnings and the homeless people who live in the woods in back of this cemetery? I know all of this goes on because I LIVE in this neighborhood and I care about it. Maybe if more people are walking through this cemetery it would deter other heinous crimes from happening.