Should this dog be banned?

The recent mauling death of a four-year-old boy has renewed the debate over whether people should be allowed to own certain dogs. Many believe some breeds are more vicious than others.
By SHAWNA RICHER
Saturday, March 8, 2003 - Page F3

Last Saturday, three rottweilers mauled an angel-faced New Brunswick boy to death. The dogs, which belonged to a friend of the boy's father, weighed 65 kilograms each; the four-year-old was about 40 kg.

The rottweilers were running loose in the back yard. James Waddell opened the door, stepped outside and was ripped to pieces. The boy's father, Ron, and the friend were in the basement at the time. Police said the attack would probably be ruled an accident.

The horrifying tale has, as each one before it, renewed the debate over banning specific breeds of dogs. It's a passionate argument with many sides. Some dog lovers, who would rather be safe than sorry, would never allow one of the breeds commonly regarded as vicious into their home, particularly with children about. Others staunchly defend pit bulls and rottweilers, acting surprised each time one tears a kid to shreds. Some cite dog owners as much of a problem as the dogs themselves.

"We're talking about isolated incidents," said Gary Gibson, a canine behavioural expert from Vancouver. "This is a horrendous incident with this boy. It will feed the fire of people who want to get rid of this particular breed, but it won't address the problem. People will go out and get different breeds and they'll become the problem and they'll have to ban them until we're down to chihuahuas."

After Winnipeg banned pit bulls in 1991, the average number of attacks by those dogs dropped to one or two from an average of 25.

"It's nowhere near what it used to be," said Tim Dack, chief operating officer of the city's animal services. "But you see some of the other breeds on the rise, replacing the gap left by the pit bull. Rottweilers seem to be the breed of choice in Winnipeg, and we're seeing more bites from them and rottweiler crosses."

He said the city is not currently considering widening the ban to cover other types of dogs.

In the United States, nearly 100 communities have banned pit bulls, rottweilers or both. Europeans are much less tolerant of the breeds -- whole countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Holland and the Netherlands, have banned one or the other or both. Puerto Rico has also banned the dogs; New Zealand is considering it.

But Mr. Gibson said breed banning is unrealistic.

"If you try to ban people who have martial arts training from being out on the street because one person with martial arts once [hurt someone], that's inappropriate," he said. "You have to look at every dog as an individual. If you ban rottweilers, then you have to ban German shepherds. And even golden retrievers bite kids. We have aggression in every breed. It's just that the type of bites and the seriousness of the bites are more connected to rottweilers and pit bulls. These dogs don't bite and run away. They seriously attack."

Dr. Moe Milstein, a veterinarian in North Vancouver, is alarmed by how easily everyone involved in a dog's upbringing blames someone else. "It's always someone else's fault, but everyone who has anything to do with that dog, from the humane society to the vet to the owner, is responsible. Excuses should not be accepted and punishments have not been strict enough."

He said rottweilers are far more dangerous than the average breed; he admits that he is nervous treating most of them and often insists on a muzzle. "There's a minority that are gentle that I trust," Dr. Milstein said. "With the rest, I'm very cautious and scared. It's hard for vets because we have to pretend otherwise."

According to a Canadian study, the most common biters are German shepherds, cocker spaniels, rottweilers and golden retrievers.

But in the United States, legislation considers pit bulls, including American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, rottweilers, Presa Canarios, Japanese Tosas, Fila Brasileiros and any wolf-dog mixture, the most dangerous.

Health Canada says more than half of all dog-bite victims are younger than 18; boys 5 to 9 are most at risk. In the United States, dogs bite more than 4.7 million people each year; 800,000 require medical attention; 20 die. Canada averages one death a year. And more than half of fatal attacks are by pit bulls and rottweilers.

Don Sullivan, a dog trainer in Victoria who has a television show called Doggin' It,favours regulations that require strict education for potential owners of higher-risk breeds, such as rottweilers.

"We have rules for keeping a gun," he said. "Anybody can get that kind of dog and it's a loaded weapon in a lot of cases."

The demand for dangerous dogs has been rising for the past several years; people want a menacing dog as an alarm and guard of the family and homestead.

But Shelagh MacDonald, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Humane Society, said the logic is flawed. For example, rottweilers are regarded as fiercely loyal and hard-working animals, she said, but they should never be left unattended with a child.

Ms. MacDonald is puzzled as to why people with children would even consider owning such high-risk breeds as rottweilers.

"It's sad that people make such poor choices with dogs," she said. "They don't put the work in and then end up with a dog like that. Why isn't gentle and friendly at the top of everyone's wish list for a dog, especially when you have children?"

Shawna Richer is a member of The Globe and Mail's Atlantic Canada bureau.
Recent attacks

March 1, 2003: James Waddell, 4, of Reeds Point, N.B., mauled to death by three rottweilers owned by a family friend.
December, 2002: Shenica White, 14, of Vancouver, brutally attacked by two mastiff-rottweilers while walking home from a slumber party. She is disfigured for life.
March, 2002: Diane Whipple, 33, killed in a vicious attack by two Presa Canario fighting dogs. The owner, Marjorie Knoller, is convicted of second-degree murder, one of only three people ever convicted of murder in the United States in a fatal dog attack.
February, 2002: Alicia Lynn Clark, 10, of Elroy, Wis., killed in a 15-minute attack by six rottweilers.
January, 2002: Kyra-Lee Sibthorpe, 4, torn to death by a rottweiler her father was keeping for a friend during a custody visit to his home near Wasaga Beach, Ont.
1999: Thomas Edgar Comeau, 5, of Strathroy, Ont., mauled so badly by two rottweilers belonging to his neighbour that his left arm was nearly ripped off. He required 300 stitches and staples and was in counselling for years.
1998: Courtney Trempe, 8, of Stouffville, Ont., fatally mauled by a next-door neighbour's mastiff after the neighbours gave children permission to play with the dog.
1989: Candace Allard, 9, of Winnipeg, attacked by a pit bull. She had serious facial injuries, but recovered. The city brought in its ban on pit bulls less than two years after the attack.
Not welcome

A handful of jurisdictions in Canada have, over the years, instituted breed- specific legislation ranging from full-out bans to muzzling bylaws:
Vancouver: Pit bulls, American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, or a cross of one of those breeds are automatically considered vicious and must be muzzled in public and fenced in at home.
Coquitlam, B.C.: Its bylaw is the same as Vancouver's, but also includes bull terriers.
Edmonton: Licence fees and fines for owners of pit bulls are higher; owners must take out liability insurance.
Winnipeg: Pit bulls are banned; people who already owned them must leash and muzzle them when they leave home and must have $300,000 in liability insurance.
Macdonald, Man.: Pit bulls are banned.
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.: Pit bulls, American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American staffordshire terriers, bull terriers, Presa Canarios and any cross thereof are prohibited within the city limits.
Midland, Ont.: Pit bull terriers, American pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire bull terriers, rottweilers, any member of the mastiff family or any cross including one of these breeds must be muzzled at all times while on municipal property.
Stouffville, Ont.: Pit bulls, mastiffs and rottweilers must be leashed and muzzled off the owner's property and fenced when on it; they cannot be walked by anyone younger than 16.
Vaughan, Ont.: Pit bull terriers, American pit bull terriers and any mix that includes a pit bull is considered aggressive. Licence fees are up to five times higher for owners of these dogs. Staffordshire bull terriers and American Staffordshire terriers are also considered to be aggressive unless they are registered with either the Canadian or American Kennel Club.
Sherbrooke, Que.: Pit bulls are banned and controls are required on rottweilers and mastiffs.
Saint-Jean-sur-Richileau, Lachine, Kirkland, Outremont, Saint Genevieve, Que.: Pit bulls are banned.
Digby, N.S.: Rottweilers, bull mastiffs, Doberman pinschers, Staffordshire bull terriers, pit bull terriers and all crosses of these breeds must be muzzled in public.
Clark's Harbour, N.S.: Pit bulls are banned.