CALIFORNIA -- The morning of March 22 started like any other for Nipomo resident Robin O’Hara.
But before it was over, her beloved dog was injured, her peace of mind was shattered and her lifestyle was altered.
Now she’s on a quest to put more bite into San Luis Obispo County’s animal control laws.
But before it was over, her beloved dog was injured, her peace of mind was shattered and her lifestyle was altered.
Now she’s on a quest to put more bite into San Luis Obispo County’s animal control laws.
An ordinance to do just that is scheduled to come before the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, but O’Hara thinks it’s too weak.
“There’s no teeth to the ordinance,” she said Monday as she recalled that fateful morning.
That Thursday, O’Hara was walking her 7-year-old, 90-pound boxer, Cassius, through her quiet Vista Robles neighborhood.
They usually walk down the street and through the 14-acre open space around the subdivision.
“It’s really a peaceful trail,” she said. “We see all sorts of quail and bunny rabbits, especially in the morning.”
But that day, she saw something else at the end of her block — two pit bulls staring at her and Cassius. Without warning, the dogs attacked.
One dog clamped its jaws around Cassius’ neck, while the other grabbed his left hind leg.
Caught off guard, O’Hara began screaming and kicking at the attacking dogs.
Inside his nearby home, Bob Horacek was enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.
“I heard her screaming,” Horacek recalled Monday as he walked his own dog, a standard poodle named Charlie. “I looked out and saw her with the leash wrapped around her and a pile of dogs. All I could hear was screaming and barking.”
Horacek grabbed a shovel and began beating the dog gripping Cassius’ throat.
“I hit it four or five times on the head before it let go,” Horacek said. “(The dogs) ran out and made a circle, and they would have come back, but I chased them up the hill and hit them again.”
While Horacek chased off the dogs and tracked them to their home, his wife helped O’Hara and Cassius to safety.
“It was so unprovoked,” O’Hara said. “(The dogs) saw us and went after us. I keep thinking: That time of the morning, there are kids going to the bus here and other people just out walking. We’re so lucky our neighbor Bob came out and saved us.”
Horacek said he just did what anyone else would do.
“If she’d been on the back trail where nobody’s around, they would have killed her dog — I have no doubt about that,” he said. “I’m just glad I was there and had a shovel and could do something.”
O’Hara also credits a heavy-duty pinch collar for keeping the more aggressive pit bull from biting deep into Cassius’ neck.
Still, she’s facing a veterinary bill in excess of $100 for emergency medical care, antibiotics and pain-killers.
She said the pit bulls’ owner has not offered to pay it.
But she and her neighbors sent the owner a letter warning there will be legal consequences if there is another problem with his dogs.
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| One of the pits that attacked her Boxer |
“He was so apologetic,” O’Hara said. “He was so sorry he couldn’t do anything.”
Dr. Eric Anderson, manager of the Division of Animal Services, said the officer couldn’t take any action because there is currently a “gap” in the animal control ordinance.
“We have a leash law that applies throughout the county, but unless the officer sees the dog (running loose), he can’t pick it up or write a citation,” Anderson said.
Under the existing code, the county can only take action if a dog has a “track record” of aggressive behavior — two incidents within three years.
Even then, he said, the county must file a petition for the court to conduct a hearing, review evidence and render a decision.
Anderson said if the incidents involve the threat of attack or attacks without serious injury, the court would likely specify how the dog is to be restrained.
“If (a dog) severely injures a person — a mauling — it can be designated a vicious dog, which can result in euthanasia,” he said, adding it also can lead to criminal charges against the owner.
But neither of those code sections apply in the attack on Cassius.
“If there’s not an established history with those dogs, if it’s just one event, that event is sort of a freebie,” Anderson said. “We can issue a warning, but there’s nothing that goes along with that — no sort of consequences or anything punitive.”
He said the proposed ordinance would allow Animal Services to deal with aggressive dogs even before an attack.
Under the ordinance, an owner could be required to restrain a menacing dog “so there’s a reasonable assurance it can’t escape.”
If a dog attacks another animal and causes severe injury, the owner could be cited. Proposed fines would be $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second and $500 for a third.
The ordinance also would hold landlords responsible for acts committed by tenants’ dogs.
But O’Hara is not impressed with the proposed ordinance.
“After the third violation, then they’ll interview the owner of the dog and see what can be done,” O’Hara said. “By then, (the dog) could have killed someone.
“I think on the first offense ... the owner should be required to pick up all the medical expenses and be fined $1,000,” she said.
“If it kills, I think a dog should be put down. After one attack, why wait for three? It will get out again and do much worse.”
Horacek would go even further.
“You don’t need four or five incidents to put a dog down, especially after an attack like that,” he said.
O’Hara has set up a Facebook page to push the county for a stronger ordinance.
“I’m encouraging people to email supervisors — their addresses are on the Facebook page — and to be outraged about the lack of any control,” she said.
In the meantime, O’Hara, Horacek and other neighbors now carry pepper spray on their walks.
“It’s concerning to us who like to walk our dogs,” said neighbor Paula Horn, displaying her can of pepper spray as she walked her golden retriever, Sophie. “A lot of people here walk their dogs, and they’re worried.”
O’Hara said Cassius shook with fear for a week after the attack, and she was also affected.
“At first, I was freaking out,” she said. “I couldn’t go back outside. ... I just feel so violated. They say you’re never attacked once. You’re attacked every time you think about it.”
(Santa Maria Times - April 7, 2012)
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