Archive for July, 2007

In a tragic incident over the weekend, a 17 month old toddler was mauled to death by her grandparent’s dog. There was no history of agression with the dog, a Shepherd Rottweiler mix, and it was apparently raised with children and well socialized.

While the story is undoubtedly horrific, I was most shocked by the even handed coverage it was given in the reporting newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen. After outlining the chain of events which led to the attack and the child’s death, the Citizen reporter then mentions that this is the first dog attack related death since Ontario’s so-called ‘Dangerous Dog’ act was enabled. He then includes quotes from Emile Thrien, a spokesman for the Canada Safety Council, including this one:

“Actually, the lead biter is the Labrador retriever,” said Mr. Thrien. “The problem is that if you try to ban a particular breed, you never stop.”

In an even better example of even handedness, the reporter also interviewed the president of the Rottweiler Club of Canada -

Adele Foley, president of the Rottweiler Club of Canada, says Rottweilers are often portrayed as vicious dogs.

“The breed itself is actually a cattle dog,” she said.

“It’s a big, smart, muscular dog. So if people want to use this dog for the wrong reason, they do it.”

Ms. Foley said above all, the responsibility lies with owners, not the dog.

“Owning a dog is not a right, it’s a privilege,” she said. “People can’t leave children alone with dogs. The dogs need to be fenced.”

This is, undeniably, a horrid incident, and my heart goes out to the family. I’d also like to thank the Ottawa Citizen reporter for giving us what could well have been just another ‘Dogs are bad, ban them all story’, but turned into a sadly well written illustration of why there really truly are no bad breeds, just bad dogs.

You can read the whole article after the cut.

Carol

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It’s funny how you can never quite tell how any one individual dog will react towards children. Yesterday we had company over, and they brought three year old Riley along with them. My older dogs are all completely kid proof, having been raised in a household full of children of all ages. The younger dogs regularly encounter kids out in public, and at the dog parks, but this isn’t quite the same thing as dealing with them at home, on their own turf.

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