"The animals were now considered to be aggressive by the municipality and would have to be treated as such. That meant they would have to be confined indoors [or] enclosed in a pen.... Over the following seven days, Snowball worked to meet the district's conditions, including the construction of a $750 enclosure."

Mr Snowball's options were to keep his dogs inside, or in a pen. He built the pen. Why? Why not let his dogs live in his comfortable and comforting home where they can't get loose to intimidate children, and probably won't bark to irritate neighbours. That's what civilized, humane dog owners do. Yard dogs are easily over-stimulated, barking at any passer-by or unfamiliar noise. Yard dogs escape and cause the kind of distress recounted in the article.

It appears from the news report that Snowball's dogs were yard dogs or how would the postal carrier know them intimately enough to attest to their behaviour and why were there barking complaints. Now it appears they will be yard dogs in a pen; I hope not in the sort of miserable pens that I have seen countless times, full of feces and stinking of urine with angry, or depressed imprisoned dogs.

Citizens, especially children, must be protected from roaming dogs. In my opinion, it is people who keep dogs in yards who are the social problem: for lonely, unhappy, dogs, and for the neighbours.