Dog Bites on the Rise, but Trainers Blame Owners, Not Animals

Richard Dietz--his swollen and bruised face laced with more than 100 stitches--recently discovered firsthand just how dangerous a dog can be.

The two pit bulls that attacked him last weekend almost ripped off his lower lip and left his 1-year-old Labrador retriever with wounds requiring 30 stitches.

But Dietz is not alone in his misery.

Between July 1, 1995, and June 31, 1996, there were more than 1,500 people bitten by dogs in the county, according to county animal regulation officials, who said it was a slight increase over the year before.

The worst incident involved a 5-month-old Oak Park girl who was fatally mauled by the family’s pet pit bull in July 1995.

That same year, a 70-year-old Ventura woman was savagely bitten and her dachshund killed by a Rottweiler and a Gordon setter.

Animal regulation officials acknowledge the strength and intimidating power of breeds like pit bulls, Rottweilers and chows, which are often involved in attacks. But studies have shown that the problem is not confined to those breeds.

The most common dog attacks were not by pit bulls but by Labrador retrievers and Labrador mixes, said Kathy Jenks, director of Ventura County Animal Regulation, which tracks dog bites in the county.

Labs are on top of the list because there are far more Labs than any other dog in the county, Jenks said.

There were 138 people bitten by Labs during the 12-month period, she said.

German shepherds, which make up about 10% of the number of licensed dogs in the county, bit 131 people. Pit bulls, which only make up about 2% of the licensed dogs in the county, bit 92 people during that time, Jenks said.

Although animal control officials said that pit bulls, Rottweilers, chows and other big muscular dogs are not more likely to bite than any other dog, they are so strong they can inflict more damage.

Most animal trainers say the blame for dog bites is not with the dogs but with the dog owners.

“You can’t put a whole breed down,” said Jeff Hoffman, who owns and operates the Doggone Smart dog training service. “Ninety-nine percent of these dogs are as sweet as you can imagine. It all boils down to the owner, and the training.”

Hoffman said a lot of problems would be solved if people trained their dogs when the dogs were still puppies, corrected bad behavior, and spayed or neutered their pets.

“I think about a third of the problems would be corrected if pets were neutered or spayed,” he said. “You’d have a much calmer dog.”

Poor training, poor breeding and even pet owners encouraging aggressive behavior are to blame for many dog bites, said Betty Michl, who trains Staffordshire terriers, which are often confused with pit bull terriers.

“I get buyers who want to buy a puppy and say they want a ‘killing machine,’ ” Michl said. “I don’t sell to those kinds of people. I’m very careful about who I sell to. My dogs are strong, but they are no killers. They’re a bunch of couch potatoes, and don’t have a propensity to do harm.”

The fearsome reputation of some dogs is undeserved, she said.

“When I’m walking my dogs through the park and I see a family with a small child I ask them if they want to pet the dogs,” Michl said, adding that her dogs have all been given a “canine-friendly” certification by the American Kennel Club for their well-bred behavior around people.

But Michl said there are people who buy big dogs for status and as a “macho extension of their personality.”

“I think you have gang members and others getting these animals and teaching them to be ferocious. It’s not the dog’s fault,” she said.

The two pit bulls that attacked Dietz and his Lab, Kya, were killed by animal control officials the day after the attack. Officials said it was the seventh time that one of the dogs had bit a person.

“I can still see them coming at me,” Dietz said. “I still have dogmares, kind of like nightmares, but I just see those dogs coming at me and Kya.”

Dietz, a 30-year-old pool contractor, said surgeons were able to repair the damage to his lower lip, but he was not sure if more surgery would be required.

“It doesn’t look that bad, but the doctors want to wait and see how it heals,” he said.

He broke out in a cold sweat the evening after he was bitten, and was afraid he might have contracted some disease from the dogs, but apart from the constant pain and nightmares, Dietz said he is pretty healthy.

He said there was no question that the owner of the two pit bulls would be asked to pay his medical expenses, and he has already fielded dozens of calls from attorneys who have offered their services.

“There’s some real ambulance chasers out there,” he said.

Dietz has talked to a friend who is a paralegal about the incident and is considering legal action.

Typically, after a person is bit, the dog is put into quarantine to monitor for rabies, said animal control director Jenks.

If the owners are responsible, animal control officials will allow them to quarantine the animal at the family home.

A decision about destroying a dog is first left up to the owner. The owner of the two dogs that bit Dietz gave his dogs up to animal control officials.

Officials may then look at the dog’s background to determine if it has a history of biting people. An administrative hearing might then be scheduled to decide if the dog is a public health nuisance and how officials should “abate that nuisance.”

“It’s really not the breeds, it’s the people that are the problem,” Jenks said. “They have to be willing to take the time and take the responsibility for their dogs.”

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Dog Bites

Following is a sample of breeds of dog involved in biting incidents reported in Ventura County from July 1, 1995, to June 30, 1996:

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Number % of licensed Breed of bites dogs in county Labrador 138 13.8% German shepherd 131 9.9% Pit bull 92 1.8% Chow 90 2.4% Rottweiler 66 2.8% Cocker spaniel 59 5.6% Australian shepherd 48 4.4% Akita 40 1.3% Golden retriever 33 6.8% Chihuahua 31 2.0% Doberman pincher 28 2.0% Dalmatian 27 1.5%

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Source: Ventura County Animal Regulation Department