There are dogs and then there are dogs. They are as much individuals as people. Having rules that make the owner's responsible for their dog's behavior seems more applicable. It is how my club, and by the way the same club Jerry Budd belongs to, handles the pet situation.

I also have to say, not saying anything to a dog's owner about something the dog "might" have done, then posting it here in this forum long after the fact seems very spiteful. Spreading a rumor about some such event in an internet forum before anyone even tries to say anything directly to the dog's owner seems very small. You would think that a more reasonable action would be to bring up your concerns directly to the owner before posting it to the internet. Especially when it was something you did not witness, but was told to you by a "friend of a friend". Second and third hand info can often be very unreliable. Seems like strange behavior.

Any responsible pet owner will not want their pet to be in danger. When the conditions warrant it, my dog is leashed. But it is not necessary at all times. As this thread has seen, there are dogs and then there are dogs. But then again, there are also all sorts of human beings. There are some in my club that when they are flying I casually put my airplane somewhere safe! But I don't make an issue out of it. And when I fly my pattern model with someone else in the air I know it is always at risk. As Jerry experienced a few months ago, mid-airs happen. I would be willing to bet they take out far more pattern models then dogs. Do we want to start to legislate against mid-airs? Can you imagine that response?

As to what most clubs do for rules, I have seen just the opposite. Even the AMA at it's headquarters has no such rule regarding leashes. And the AMA makes no official recommendation regarding pets. They leave it up entirely to the individual club. In fact, when I talked to the AMA about it they told me a story of a dog that was at every Sailplane Nats for many years. He would roam around the contest, a friend to everyone there. When he passed they buried him at that site.

I think making rules based on examples of irresponsible owners or on rumors would be poorly based.