But state law isn't on the side of Utako Jazwinski, an 85-pound Japanese World War II war bride who married a Polish-American naval officer.
The law allows cities to muzzle vicious dogs, but local officials cannot target particular breeds.
Jazwinsiki would like to see her former neighbor forced to take responsibility for what his dog did.
And if not the neighbor, then his landlord.
On the afternoon of Sept. 22, Jazwinski took Lexie, her 10-pound cockapoo, on her daily walk along July Way in the north part of town when the large tan-and-white pit bull pounced on them both, according to an animal control report.
Lexie survived the mauling, although she spent a week in intensive care and an additional three months recovering.
Jazwinski, who lives on a fixed income, is still paying a $2,751 veterinarian bill she had to put on her credit card.
Medicare covered Jazwinsiki's wounds, and that thought alone makes her angry.
"I never looked for a free dollar from the U.S. government," Jazwinski said. "I am so proud of myself. And now I feel so bad the taxpayer has to come up with my bill."
Redding Mayor Missy McArthur plans to have a fundraiser for Jazwinski on Friday at the Redding Convention Center.
Jazwinski has spent much of the past year seeking legal recourse against the dog's owner and the property manager of the apartment complex where they lived.
No attorney or legal aid organization so far has been willing to take her case.
A judge rejected her efforts to press charges against the property manager in small claims court.
Jazwinski said she'd like to see a law forbidding property managers at apartment complexes without yards from renting to tenants with pit bulls.
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| Ruby, killed by a pit bull |
She's recently found a sympathetic ear in McArthur, who late this spring lost her toy fox terrier, Ruby, to a pit bull and an Australian shepherd.
The dogs attacked McArthur's terrier from a neighbor's yard despite a 6-foot fence. A city of Redding administrative hearings board sentenced both animals to death.
McArthur said she's been told cities cannot outlaw any dog breed under California law.
"Why can't the city of Redding say no to pit bulls?" McArthur said. "It's frustrating."
Rick Duvernay, city attorney, confirmed state law allows cities and counties latitude to control dangerous dogs as long as they don't tailor their regulation to specific breeds.
"Dangerous dogs come in all sizes," Duvernay said.
Local law does require leashes for all dogs at apartment complexes, whether or not the property has a fenced yard, said Duvernay.
Jazwinksi had been taking Lexie on the same walk around her neighborhood for nine years. She was used to seeing the pit bull about half a block away on the other side of the street, unleashed, sitting with its owner beneath an oak tree along the street. Their apartment complex had no yard.
Tom Rainwater, Jazwinski's neighbor, confirmed in a witness statement the pit bull was unleashed when it was out by the street with its owner under the oak tree.
Jazwinski had never spoken to the dog's owner but noticed he often was with the animal, usually talking on his cell phone. Still, she automatically scooped Lexie into her arms as she would walk by.
The pit bull wasn't under the oak tree across the street with its owner the day it attacked. Instead, the dog burst out of some bushes on Jazwinski's side of the street and snapped at them from behind, she said.
"I had no idea (the pit bull had attacked) until I heard Lexie crying," Jazwinski said. "The dog had her upside down."
Jazwinski instinctively went after the pit bull, using Lexie's leash as a whip. The pit bull grabbed Jazwinski's right leg after she lifted Lexie off the ground.
"I had no fear, fighting to save my little dog," Jazwinski said. "I never thought, 'I am scared.' But after all this happened I had nightmares."
A neighbor, who happened to be a small-dog owner herself, heard Jazwinski screaming for help.
She knocked on the pit bull owner's apartment door to tell him his dog was attacking another dog and a neighbor.
The man promptly herded the pit bull into a car and drove off while Jazwinski waited on the sidewalk for a ride to an urgent care clinic.
Jazwinski's wounds were not serious, but doctors gave her a tetanus shot and, during the course of a week, nine rabies shots.
The vaccinations ruined her appetite, and her weight slipped to 80 pounds.
For several days Jazwinski and her veterinarians weren't sure Lexie would survive the attack. Vets had to cut out part of the dog's stomach and intestine and insert feeding tubes.
Lexie's recovery was long, and it was difficult for Jazwinski, weakened by her reaction to the rabies shots.
She had to ground Lexie's four daily medications into a powder and mix them into baby food, which she fed the dog from her fingertips.
But she felt she had to make the effort.
"That dog is just like family," Jazwinski said. "She's my little kid. She's a life saver."
Meanwhile, the pit bull's unidentified owner remains at large. He wasn't in the apartment when Redding animal control officers sought him for questioning the day the dog attacked.
Jazwinski hasn't seen him or the pit bull around the neighborhood since that day. He apparently moved out within 24 hours.
Later, animal control officers told her they found the dog in Anderson, living with the owner's mother.
Mother and son have denied owning the dog, according to a report.
[NOTE: Wait a minute. Animal Control Officers tracked him and the dog down to his mommy's house. They deny it's there dog. Doesn't matter - witnesses saw him with it, I'm sure the landlord knew he had it, it was found at his mommy's house... case closed. You're telling me there isn't enough evidence for her to sue this guy? WTH??!]
(Record Searchlight - Sept 5, 2011)
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