Take a bite out of bad dogs
Dog-lovers will feel sorry for Pork, a Great Pyrenees in East Sooke who is going to be put to death for biting women's buttocks.

It is sad that a member of a large and handsome breed renowned historically as a livestock guardian in Asia Minor, and later as an animal used for rescue and human therapy, should have to be put down like a common cur.

Pork's been attacking people, apparently, since 1999. He was seized after an attack in March of this year. And after a two-day civil trial, in which Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms was cited, oddly, in his defence, his execution was ordered.

Now East Sooke is a pretty free-and-easy kind of place, but those who walk or jog or raise sheep there shouldn't have to put up with a huge dog who likes to sink his teeth into soft fleshy bits.

And it's strange that it should take all this time, and a court case citing the charter, to get rid of a menace that was so obvious to so many people in the community.

Dog-lovers say, of course, that it's not Pork's fault, but his owner's. But fining an owner each time a vicious animal hurts someone doesn't remove the threat.

And despite the assurances of self-styled experts that they can make vicious dogs safe, we find more assurance in animal-control bylaws that call for chains, leashes and muzzles.

We don't want to take the route of Ontario's attorney-general, Michael Bryant, whose ban on pit bulls and anything that looks like them has been challenged in court by that legal mastiff, Clayton Ruby.

Certain types of dogs may be bred to bite, even to kill. But singling out one breed doesn't get at every dog that has gone bad, whether through its own fault or the fault of its owner.

The Great Pyrenees Club of America admits frankly on its website that though these dogs are "trusted and beloved members in homes," they are also "wary of strangers" and "have a special ability to distinguish predators and intruders."

Sure, big dogs usually are great with the kids in their families and look magnificent lying in the sun. But if, using their instinct to herd, guard, chase, or kill, they think you're an intruder -- even if jogging down the road -- they can get you in the end, as at least two East Sooke women have learned.

And the bigger the jaw, the bigger the bite.

It shouldn't take a prolonged trial or a constitutional challenge to rid our communities of vicious dogs, or to keep them muzzled and leashed.