Yeah, it's just this HOA that doesn't allow fences. We had a fence when we lived in NC, and when we leave this house, we'll definitely make sure it has a fence around the backyard or we can put one up. I'm a little afraid now, though; it appears that this county is pretty strict about dogs. We were asked if we had current rabies shots and dog registration tags; we do. We had to produce the paperwork instantly when the Animal Control lady was here; if we hadn't had them, the dogs would have been taken just for that (fortunately, we obey the law, and yes, we're up to date, we agree with and support such measures to keep dogs vaccinated and registered). It's a good thing my wife had the paperwork handy and could produce it instantly. We were told that if the dogs get off our property, we lose them. If we have a fence and they jump or tunnel out, we lose them. If they bite anyone of course we lose them (as I would expect). If they frighten people with their barking, we lose them if it is a repeated incident. If people come on our property and the dogs bite them but the people are not charged with home invasion (for example, if they are just trespassers) we lose them. If the dogs are a 'dangerous breed' we lose them (and we questioned the lady, she did agree that our dogs do not look like a dangerous breed mix to her, but she said in some cases, that's up to a court to decide). In short, if the dogs offend anyone, we could have them taken away. I really did not know that when we moved here. Lots of people have dogs on our block. There is a 'bark park' just up the road that is 16 acres of fenced parkland where you're allowed to let the dogs roam free with other dogs if you have a permit (we do) and it's very popular, but she told us that if our dogs bite a person there or attack other dogs, they can be taken from us for that, too.
In short, the county appears to be somewhat anti-dog. That's really unfortunate.