Pit Bull Declared a Vicious Animal, Ordered Leashed

A pit bullterrier in Huntington Beach has been declared a vicious animal, and its owner has been ordered to keep the dog restrained, an Orange County animal control official said Tuesday.

Dr. Nila Kelly, chief of the county’s veterinary services, said repeated complaints by neighbors about the dog’s aggressive behavior led to the action last week, even though it has not bitten anyone.

Several pit bull attacks have been reported in different parts of the country recently, including one Monday involving a Los Angeles animal control officer who was investigating an incident in which two people had been bitten.

One of the Huntington Beach neighbors, Shirley Carey, said the pit bull on her block--while it has never bitten anyone--has made people afraid to leave their houses. It recently chased a woman, nine months pregnant, into her garage and repeatedly has forced others to take refuge in their homes and cars when they step out their front doors, she said.

“It’s changed our entire activity. I have an 8-year-old, and I never let her walk around the corner unless I’m with her to make sure the dog isn’t out,” Carey said.

Last month, Carey said, the dog lunged at a postal carrier, who escaped injury by getting his mail bag between him and the dog.

The dog has been impounded at least once for running loose, Kelly said.

In declaring the dog “vicious,” the county has ordered that the animal be restrained with a chain in the rear yard, that all entrances to the yard be padlocked and that the owner post “beware of dog” signs with letters at least 2 inches tall, Kelly said. In addition, when the dog is off the property, it must be restrained on a leash no longer than six feet, she said.

If the restrictions are not followed, the animal can be impounded until the owner agrees to comply, she said.

In cases of vicious dogs where the problem persists and the dog owners are resistant, “we do try to convince them it might be easier to put the dog to sleep,” she said. However, without the owner’s permission, the county agency cannot destroy a dog unless it gets a court order, she said.

Kelly said she was not authorized to identify the dog, but a clerk who oversees the public records of vicious animals identified the canine as Phoenicia, a female American Staffordshire terrier (the proper breed name), belonging to Rob Yorba of Spar Circle.

2 Male Puppies

Carey said that Phoenicia is the mother of two male puppies, both more than a year old, and that the neighbors fear that the younger dogs--already bigger than their mother--will exhibit Phoenicia’s aggressiveness as they mature.

Yorba denied that his dog is vicious.

“There’s no problem with my dog. All I can say is their (the neighbors’) dogs are just as bad. My dogs have never bitten anyone, and they never will,” Yorba said in a brief telephone interview.

Carey said that other neighborhood dogs occasionally get out, her own schnauzer included, but that they are quickly corralled and are not aggressive like Phoenicia. The pit bull, she said, has repeatedly attacked other dogs in the neighborhood and has drawn blood.

“We’re talking about a totally different animal,” she said. “There’s no question that he (Yorba) loves the dog, but we don’t think he realizes how dangerous this dog could be.”

Carey said one neighbor who walks his two dogs down the street now carries a steel pipe for protection.

“We are pleased that this (the declaration of viciousness) has been done, but we’re unhappy it’s taken two years. We don’t feel anybody should have to take two years of harassment to get this accomplished,” Carey said.

She and other neighbors, frustrated by the county’s slow response, have been researching the characteristics of pit bulls and looking into the animal-control regulations of other counties and states. She said they hope to change Orange County’s policies.

‘Pre-Attack’ Behavior

“We definitely think this dog had demonstrated behaviors that indicated the dog was becoming a passive-aggressive,” stalking people before lunging at them, she said. Phoenicia was showing “pre-attack” behavior, and it will only be a matter of time before she bites someone, she said.

“Pit bulls have a dead-prey instinct,” Carey said. “They don’t stop until their prey is dead. We don’t feel anyone should have to endure that type of mauling or injury once an animal has shown pre-attack behavior. We shouldn’t have to wait for the bite, but the policy says you have to wait for the bite.”

Kelly said pit bulls were originally bred to fight other dogs, not to be aggressive toward people. There have been an increasing number of bites and attacks on people, however, as the dogs have grown in popularity and number and “the ones with bad temperaments have been bred indiscriminately,” she said. “There has been a magnifying of bad traits.”

Pit bulls have uncommonly strong jaws, exerting more pounds per square inch in jaw pressure than other breeds, she said. If a pit bull decides to bite a person, she said, “he can do a lot more damage than the average dog.”

An Orange County animal control officer had a finger bitten off by a pit bull about a 1 1/2 years ago as the officer investigated a call about a possibly vicious dog in Huntington Beach, Kelly said. That was not the first time the dog had bitten a person, and the owner opted to have the dog destroyed, she said.

In another recent incident in the county, a man was attacked by two pit bulls, one of which attached itself to the man’s ankle, and police had to shoot the dog to make it let go, Kelly said.