Pitt Meadows councillors wants to add more teeth to the city’s dog control bylaw.
City hall is about to get tougher on the owners of dangerous dogs, with proposals including $500 licensing fees, house arrest, and microchips installed at owner’s expense to keep track of their whereabouts.
Councillors reviewed the city dog control bylaw on Tuesday and were unanimous in calling for tougher sanctions for the owners of dogs proven vicious.
City staff will review proposed changes to the bylaw, looking at the bylaws from other municipalities and any amendments with legal counsel, then report to council at a future meeting.
“We need to take a stand as a municipality and say, ‘Enough is enough,’” said Coun. Janis Elkerton. “We need to set a standard, and do it for Pitt Meadows.”
The review results from the Sept. 28 mauling of the Shih Tsu cross Buttons, a local therapy dog that was put down after being attacked by a bull mastiff. The next council meeting in October brought a delegation that filled council chambers with both people and dogs, carrying a banner that read, “Justice for Buttons,” and asking for council to take action, including having the mastiff put down.
Coun. Bill Dingwall noted that, under the existing bylaw, if a dog is deemed dangerous, then the owner must comply with seven new responsibilities, including displaying a dangerous dog sign, hiring a dog trainer, and keeping the dog muzzled and leashed in public.
He asked whether the city could order a dog destroyed on its first offence, “if you have a particularly vicious attack,” and he used the example of a recent dog attack in Richmond, where a dog bit a woman about 100 times and tore her bicep muscle.
City director of operations Kate Zanon cautioned council that putting a dog down would generally require court action, unless the dog owner agrees. If the owner consents, then “things are a lot easier,” she said.
“Even with consent it’s not always clean,” Zanon noted, adding that dog owners could later say they felt pressured and have changed their mind.
The matter could still end up before the courts, with the dog kenneled during the process, which could take months, and the city potentially bearing the costs.
Council is having staff investigate a number of changes to the bylaw, which would include raising the licensing fee from $75 to $500 for dangerous dogs.
“In other words, a significant penalty if you choose to continue to have a dangerous or vicious dog in this municipality,” said Elkerton. “So it [the bylaw] discourages it.”
Dingwall speculated that people with aggressive breeds may stop registering dogs.
Elkerton responded that, under the bylaw, dogs can be seized if not registered, without the city having to go through the courts.
“We do have some pull, if you’re not paying your license fee.”
Council will also look at a resolution to the B.C. Union of Municipalities, requiring the owners of dogs deemed officially dangerous to have a microchip inserted, to stop dangerous dogs from being moved freely between municipalities without their “dangerous” designation following them.
“So they can’t hop, skip and jump to another municipality, and their dog do the same thing all over again,” said Elkerton. “It needs to be at a provincial level.”
Coun. Tracy Miyashita wants to see dangerous dogs restricted from public places, and their owners prohibited from tying them up and leaving them unattended. She said there were three high-profile incidents where dogs were killed by other dogs, and she appreciates council’s “harshness” in wanting to punish future offenders.
“We need to get a handle on this,” she said.
Councillors also asked staff to investigate any ways that council might seize a dangerous dog, until its owner paid for the vet treatment for any dogs it injured.
Zanon said the city can’t recoup costs on behalf of an injured dog owner, adding that would be an issue for civil courts. However, she agreed to ask for legal counsel about the matter.
There was discussion of breed bans, but council did not proceed in that direction.
Dingwall noted that Ontario has a breed ban that includes pit bulls.
“I can tell you that gangsters and drug dealers don’t have chihuahuas walking beside them,” said Dingwall, a former RCMP superintendent.