RDCO dog bylaw amendments - banning breeds, etc

[western_star]

An aggressive or dangerous dog is defined the following way according to RDCO's dog bylaw #366

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Aggressive dog means any dog that has been the subject of an owner's conviction of an offence against Subsection 17.5 or 17.6 of this bylaw.

17.5 An owner shall control his dog to ensure that the dog shall not, without provocation, aggressively pursue, inflict minor injury, harass, cause secondary injury, chase or approach a person on public or private property in an attitude of attack.

17.6 An owner shall control his dog to ensure that the dog shall not, without provocation, aggressively pursue, inflict minor injury, harass, cause secondary injury or chase a domestic animal or companion animal.

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Dangerous Dog means any dog that has been the subject of an owner's conviction of an offence against Section 17.3 or 17.4 of this bylaw.

17.3 An owner shall control his dog to ensure that the dog shall not kill or without provocation, seriously injure a person.

17.4 An owner shall control his dog to ensure that the dog shall not, without provocation, while in a public place or while on private property, other than property occupied by the person responsible for the dog, kill or seriously injury a companion animal or a domestic animal.

[western_star]

I'm glad the Regional District understands certain breeds are not the problem but dangerous dogs are. Kudos to them. I know they have been hands on in the pitbull community for a number of years and it is good to know they are following facts and not hysteria from those who don't know better. Whenever I have spoke with them they were very pleasant and understanding and quick to pet my dogs.

Breeds bans don't work in Ontario, they don't work in Winnipeg and they won't work here. Education of the public, especially children, personal responsibilties of the owners and strong enforcement on problem dogs is the way to go as evidenced by the success of Calgary's program. I would also like to see mandatory spay/nueter programs in place with discount clinics available for low income familes.

I think with any large strong breed dog, you need to be the boss. I have a pitbull and he needs to be told what to do or he gets out of hand. He is only a year old, but he needs to be told not to play bit and I don't tug on anything he has in his mouth ... I hold his collar and make him drop it. He brings me my shoes constantly LOL. He loves to flail his stuffed toy around and pull the stuffing out so I make him lay down to play so he doesn't flail the toy around in the house. You do have to control your dog no matter what dog you own. Some dogs are more stubborn and need more training than others.

[western_star]

I'm glad the Regional District understands certain breeds are not the problem but dangerous dogs are. Kudos to them. I know they have been hands on in the pitbull community for a number of years and it is good to know they are following facts and not hysteria from those who don't know better. Whenever I have spoke with them they were very pleasant and understanding and quick to pet my dogs.

Breeds bans don't work in Ontario, they don't work in Winnipeg and they won't work here. Education of the public, especially children, personal responsibilties of the owners and strong enforcement on problem dogs is the way to go as evidenced by the success of Calgary's program. I would also like to see mandatory spay/nueter programs in place with discount clinics available for low income familes.

I agree except about mandatory spay/neuter programs. I think breeding dogs can be family dogs as long as the owners are responsible.

I think with any large strong breed dog, you need to be the boss. I have a pitbull and he needs to be told what to do or he gets out of hand. He is only a year old, but he needs to be told not to play bit and I don't tug on anything he has in his mouth ... I hold his collar and make him drop it. He brings me my shoes constantly LOL. He loves to flail his stuffed toy around and pull the stuffing out so I make him lay down to play so he doesn't flail the toy around in the house. You do have to control your dog no matter what dog you own. Some dogs are more stubborn and need more training than others.

[logicalview]

Back from cuddly fuzzy wuzzy stories and back on topic.

I'm glad the Regional District understands certain breeds are not the problem but dangerous dogs are. Kudos to them. I know they have been hands on in the pitbull community for a number of years and it is good to know they are following facts and not hysteria from those who don't know better. Whenever I have spoke with them they were very pleasant and understanding and quick to pet my dogs.

The "certain" breeds that aren't the problem don't maim and tear the flesh of humans. They have been "hands on" the pitbull owners for years because they have the inherent qualities to be a dangerous dog. In fact, they have been so troublesome that the RDCO has a staff report that concerns banning them on the table.

It would be interesting to hear the "hysteria" coming from the mouths that have just been attacked and know better than to even go near one of these flesh eaters.

Whenever I have seen the RDCO interact with a pitbull it has been on the end of a noose stick.

RDCO states in their staff report that in the RDCO there are more dog bites from German Shepherds than Pitbulls.. so should RDCO ban German Shepherds and not ban Pitbulls and other strong big dogs that have bite records?

I noticed in the stats you posted to this thread earlier (reposted below), that RDCO gave out few fines and gave out a lot of warnings .. do you think this could be part of the dangerous dog problem?

In my opinion if a dog kills an animal or bites someone, it should be an automatic fine and no warning. Do you think the same as myself logicalview?

Yah, I'm surprised that German Shepherds lead the way in total bites. We just rescued one for a week and it didn't bite me. (So I guess that means "it's the owner and not the dog."). Loved the dog but there was hair everywhere!

I don't recall any regular stories of Sheppards killing humans. I also don't recall hearing about events being held to have them rip the flesh off each other to the death. The kind of people that own shepherds don't seem to find a way to push their inbred instincts to the forefront like pitbull owners do. So I don't see their biting as the sole criteria for banning. Any dog can bite a human, but most haven't earned the reputation of killing humans or maiming like pitbulls have easily lead the way.

Sure, fines and warnings are generally not effective. People ignore them in their driving behaviour and the same goes for their unequivocal love for their dogs. It's always the big bad person from dog control that is at fault. Or nobody understands them, or it wasn't the dogs fault. The RDCO needs resources, significant resources to haul bad dogs and their owners into court. The problem is that when they get there, the legislation isn't harsh enough and fits the fine model. Banning breeds like pitbulls would take a big bite out of the dangerous dog problem.

Automatic fines for biting. Fines, quarantine for killing.

[Amarow121]

Automatic fines for biting. Fines, quarantine for killing.

Agreed on that.
City of Calgary gives out huge fines for all sorts of things:

$250 fine for failing to licence your dog
$250 fine for not cleaning up after your dog (wish we had this fine...)

"One woman was fined $18,000 when her two border collies constantly bit people. She never obeyed the conditions placed on her, so her dogs were declared vicious and destroyed."

"Calgary’s program is a $5-million-a-year operation funded entirely from licenses of animals and penalties for violations. It costs $31 to license a spayed or neutered dog for a year. Licensing an intact animal costs $52."


http://www.examiner.com/pet-life-in-national/calgary-finds-the-laws-to-stop-dog-bites-and-shelter-crowding

[western_star]

In reply to logicalview about his German Shepherd

German Shepherd Dogs are among the top five most popular dogs in the United States according to American Kennel Club statistics[26] and well-trained and socialized German Shepherd Dogs have a reputation among many as being very safe (see temperament section below). In the United States, one source suggests that German Shepherd Dogs are responsible for more reported bitings than any other breed, and suggest a tendency to attack smaller breeds of dogs.[27]

An Australian report from 1999 provides statistics showing that German Shepherd Dogs are the third breed most likely to attack a person in some Australian locales.[28]

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advises on dog bite prevention and related matters, states "There is currently no accurate way to identify the number of dogs of a particular breed, and consequently no measure to determine which breeds are more likely to bite or kill."[29]

Similarly, the American Veterinary Medical Association through its Task Force on Canine Aggression and Canine-Human Interactions reports, "There are several reasons why it is not possible to calculate a bite rate for a breed or to compare rates between breeds. First, the breed of the biting dog may not be accurately recorded, and mixed-breed dogs are commonly described as if they were purebreds. Second, the actual number of bites that occur in a community is not known, especially if they did not result in serious injury. Third, the number of dogs of a particular breed or combination of breeds in a community is not known, because it is rare for all dogs in a community to be licensed, and existing licensing data is then incomplete."[30] Moreover, studies rely on 'reported' bites, leading the National Geographic Channel television show The Dog Whisperer to conclude that small dog breeds are likely responsible for more bites than large dog breeds, but often go unreported.[31]

In addition, according to the National Geographic Channel television show, Dangerous Encounters, the bite of a German Shepherd Dog has a force of over 238 pounds (compared with that of a Rottweiler, over 265-328 pounds of force, a Pit bull, 235 pounds of force, a Labrador Retriever, of approximately 230 pounds of force, or a human, of approximately 86 pounds of force).[32] Regardless, one source indicates that fatalities have been attributed to over 30 breeds since 1975, including small breeds, such as the Pomeranian.[33]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Shepherd_Dog

[western_star]

RDCO dog control is hiring a consultant with a $50,000 budget to find out what they can do to make dog control work better and not cost so much (1 million per year). Does anyone have an opinion on this $50,000 consultants fee or on the $1 million to run dog control? Do you have any good ideas on how dog control could be more efficient or work better?