Regarding recent dog attacks, my heart goes out to those who have suffered due to violent dogs/negligent owners.
My first memory of a violent dog was when I was a child. A neighbour had a German Shepherd whereas my family had a friendly border collie. One day, as I recall, the Shepherd was loose (with the “responsible” person?) and so was the border collie. I am not sure how it happened but I think I witnessed some of the attack (the shepherd attacking our collie).
Ultimately the border collie died in the ditch near our house due to that unleashed shepherd. As far as I can recall, the owner(s) were never held accountable nor were apologetic (my memory is not that good on that shocking time). I don’t think I came to hate all Shepherds due to that one but I probably didn’t have much respect for the owner(s) from that time on.
Frankly, any person who “allows” their dog to be at large and to attack another dog or people should be fined and even face jail time, regardless of their attitude. Some people probably should never own a dog just as it seems there are people who probably should never have children.
Even if the dog escapes the yard despite barriers, there should be consequences for the owners.
A dog that kills, whether animal or person, should either be removed completely from the community or perhaps, as a last resort, put to death.
Cities and the regional districts must put higher priority on responding to public complaints about nuisance dogs, even those who are just guilty of excessive barking. In my area, there are dogs that run loose. Some of them are friendly whereas one will actually bark at me when I am in my yard while it is roaming free.
Patrick Longworth, Okanagan Falls