For those preoccupied with the practical aspects of halachos of both Pesach and tza’ar baalei chaim: you start changing your pet’s food over a week or two before Pesach. Start by feeding a small amount of the new food to make sure it agrees with your furry friend, then over time increase the amount of chometz-free food and decrease the amount of chometz until by bedika time (or your neighborhood’s last garbage pickup) your pet is eating only chometz-free. And don’t forget when Pesach is over to reverse the process by gradually changing over from chometz-free to its regular food.
Mentsch, having lived in New York for a few years I sympathize with you, but don’t think that all dog owners are bums. And realize that the guy who’s inconveniencing the public with his dog is probably doing it in lots of other ways too, so don’t land on the poor dog so hard.
Having a pet or not isn’t a matter of being “Jewish” but of the individual’s own choice and, if they seek it, the advice of their LOR. It’s sefirah time, when we have to treat each other with increased respect. So: let Joe stop trying to tell us what’s kosher and let’s the rest of us stop calling him out roughly on it.