Dangerous Dogs

BY JIM HUTCHISON

IN MAY 1999, Zack Pichor, four, went outside to play with a friend while his father, Randy, repaired the side deck on their Squamish, B.C., townhouse. Moments later a neighbour's dog wandered by and began licking the boy's face. When Zack tried to push it away, the large husky-cross knocked him to the ground and straddled him. Clamping powerful jaws over his skull, the animal proceeded to shake the screaming child like a rag doll.

       His father was unable to hear his cries for help, but a neighbour who witnessed the attack raced to the boy's side and managed to haul the dog off.

       "Call 9-1-1!" she shouted to Randy. "Your son's head is half ripped off!" Dropping his tools, Randy ran to Zack, who was bleeding but conscious and sobbing.

       Emergency-room doctors sutured 14 wounds. Then reconstructive surgery was performed on Zack's right ear, which was almost torn off in an attack that lasted just seconds. The dog was ultimately destroyed, but Zack's mother, Donna, would learn that it was not the first time the animal had jumped the owner's fence. The Pichors are now suing the owner for damages.

THERE are few dog-attack statistics in Canada, but a national poll of 1,211 people, conducted for Reader's Digest, showed roughly 29 percent had either been the victim of a dog attack, or had a child or knew of a child who had been. And a 1996 Health Canada survey of emergency departments across Canada revealed that 57 percent of the dog bites in Canada involved children under ten years of age. A smaller, more detailed study found that the victim knew the dog in 71 percent of cases and lived with the dog in 26 percent.

       The U.S. Centres for Disease Control suggests the problem is growing as dog attacks requiring medical treatment soared by 37 percent between 1986 and 1996. Such statistics also apply here, says Michael O'Sullivan, executive director of The Humane Society of Canada.

       Nova Scotia veterinarian Steve Noonan suspects the rise in ownership of bigger dogs is fuelling the increase in reported dog bites. "That's not to say small dogs don't bite, but dogs like German shepherds and golden retrievers are capable of inflicting more serious injury."

       Potentially aggressive dogs such as pit bulls, rottweilers and Dobermans, can be ticking time bombs when let loose around children. "There's been a huge increase in the number of pit bulls in our neighbourhood," says a Surrey, B.C., mother whose five-year-old son was bitten when he tried to pet an unmuzzled pit bull at Bear Creek Park on September 12, 1998. "Too many pet owners buy these dogs without understanding the risks," she says.

       To curb the number of child dog-bite victims, Noonan says, owners must take more responsibility for their pets, and children need to be warned of the dangers. Noonan visits Halifax-area schools to teach children how to avoid dog attacks.

       "The vast majority of the four million dogs in Canada never injure anyone, and most bites are preventable," says O'Sullivan, who has run animal shelters across the country. But he cautions owners who think "because their dog is friendly to them, it poses no risk to others." The No. 1 rule for parents, he says, is never leave young children or infants unsupervised around dogs.

       While visiting a friend's house in 1996, Christine Hunter of Rockland, Ont., took her eyes off her son Jamie for a few seconds. Having grown up with a Lab, her five-year-old had little fear of dogs and ran up to her friend's dalmatian to offer him a bone. The dog snapped at the child, biting his ear hard enough to draw blood. "We were lucky; it could have been his face," Hunter says.

       "It's frightening to see people let their children pat or hug strange dogs," Noonan says. "A dog's only defence if it feels threatened is to bite." Parents need to be more vigilant, Noonan says -- even with their own dog.

       On January 30, 1999, Andrea Buckett lay down for a nap at her parents' house in Toronto while her mother put Buckett's 14-day-old baby, Cameron, in another room. Buckett woke to screams from her aunt and ran for Cameron. She nearly fainted at the sight of her baby's bruised and bleeding head.

       Her own dog and her parents' dog -- both German shepherds -- had entered the open bedroom door and attacked the baby. After he was rushed to The Hospital for Sick Children, doctors worked for six hours to save his life. Both dogs were destroyed. Today, Cameron has fully recovered, but Buckett has a warning for other parents: "These were dogs we trusted. Never leave young children alone with any dog."

Advice for Parents Never let children play tug-of-war or other aggressive games with a dog. Supervise dogs and kids together. Teach your child never to go near an unfamiliar dog or disturb a dog that is eating, sleeping or has pups. Tell children always to ask the owner before they pet a dog. Teach your child not to tease dogs. Avoid surprising or approaching a dog suddenly. Instruct children to stand still and avoid eye contact if approached by a dog. Tell them not to scream or run. Teach them to curl into a ball with their hands over their ears if attacked or to distract the dog with something they may be carrying. Remember, unneutered male dogs are the most likely to bite.

ALTHOUGH breeds like pit bulls are not involved in the majority of dog-biting incidents, cases in which they are involved are often the most violent. On January 11, 1999, Jeff Comeau, of West Williams Township, Ont., found his five-year-old son, Thomas, lying in blood-soaked snow in the front yard. His nearly naked body was covered in wounds and his left arm almost severed after he had been savaged by a pair of rottweilers. It took six doctors at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario nearly eight hours to stitch his wounds.

       After being charged for failing to take reasonable precautions with their dogs, owners Jesse McCarroll and William Beierling admitted the dogs sometimes slipped their collars and roamed the neighbourhood. But following a daylong trial on March 14, 2000, they were acquitted of any wrongdoing, as they had left the dogs in a closed shed and the dogs had no history of violent behaviour. A friend had inadvertently set them free.

       In another case that stirred public outrage, Dale Howie, 12, of Oshawa was attacked by his neighbour's 45-kilogram rottweiler in May 1998. The dog latched on to his arm and dragged him down the street, but he managed to escape. Two weeks later the dog knocked him down again and sank its teeth into his inner thigh. Screaming for help, Dale tried to cover his face and neck as the dog tore at him. "It was trying to kill me," he says. "I would have died if a neighbour hadn't dragged the dog off."

       The owner, David Cooke, refused to have the animal destroyed and was ordered to muzzle it in public. But after Dale nearly came face-to-face with the dog again and ran into nearby woods to escape, Cooke had the animal put down. "It's unacceptable to let dangerous dogs roam about attacking children," says David Howie, Dale's father. Even worse, he adds, "there is nothing to stop Cooke from getting another dog."

       Indeed, Ontario's Dog Owners' Liability Act does not prevent a person from owning another dog after an incident.

       Like some municipal pounds across the country, Vancouver's has seen an increase in vicious dogs being impounded. "It's no mystery why they attack people," says Barbara Fellnermayr, manager of Vancouver Animal Control. "Owners train them to be aggressive, neglect and abuse them, and leave these otherwise highly social animals isolated and locked up in the backyard."

       In January 1995 an unleashed pit bull savaged and killed a Labrador retriever 300 metres from two schools in Kitchener. Police officers gave chase for ten kilometres through the streets, shooting at the rampaging animal. Fifteen shots were fired before it was killed.

       That was the last straw for city councillor Berry Vrbanovic, who had seen a steady increase in pit bulls terrorizing and attacking residents in his ward. He began a campaign to have them banished from the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo.

       Support for the bylaw was strong. One of the first breed-specific bans in Ontario, which also included strict safety rules for existing pit bulls in Kitchener, it was enacted in 1997. "In the two years before the ban, we had 18 pit-bull attacks," says Kitchener-Waterloo SPCA officer Jamie Laflamme. "Since then we've had only four reported incidents." Vrbanovic hopes new provincial legislation will simplify the process for Ontario municipalities wanting to enact breed-specific bylaws.

       Fellnermayr wants to see a clampdown on backyard puppy mills. "They sell puppies under the table for $300 each," she says. "They just churn them out, interbreeding brothers and sisters, crossbreeding and creating unstable dogs that are potentially very dangerous." The Pichors were shaken to discover the husky that attacked their son Zack was part wolf and that other pups from the same litter were sold to people in the area.

SHOULD you decide to adopt a dog at your local animal shelter, remember that dogs with a history of aggressive behaviour are not a good choice. Sharon Appler took a five-year-old part-German shepherd home from the Winnipeg Humane Society. A worker had told her the previous owners brought it in because it bit a child. But her children were older and the dog seemed so friendly that she didn't think they would have trouble with it.

       A week later, when their daughter Carly, 12, was playing with the dog in the living room, it bit her on the thigh. A few days later it sank its teeth into her husband's arm. When it began growling at their older daughter, they knew they could never trust the dog so they returned it and adopted a gentle collie-cross named Keesha.

       After Courtney Trempe, eight, of Toronto, was killed in a neighbour's backyard by their 54-kilogram bullmastiff on April 29, 1998, there was a public outcry demanding action to curb dog attacks on children. At the end of the inquest, the Coroner's jury made 36 recommendations, which it hoped to see adopted in jurisdictions across the country. The recommendations included requiring dog owners to take a course in responsible pet ownership, making dog-bite prevention programs part of the school curriculum and creating a provincial dog-bite reporting agency. But since the tragedy, little has been done.

       Now six, Zack Pichor still has nightmares about the dog attack and is receiving therapy. "His hair has grown over the scars, but the emotional damage is still with him," says his mother. "Yes, our kids have to be taught that not all dogs are cuddly and friendly, but dog owners need to be more responsible as well. One more child mauled is one too many."

Interview with Stanley Coren