Bark or bite?
A recent verdict has dog owners and officials worried about the temperament of man’s best friend and wondering what responsibilities an owner has after an attack.
On March 21, Marjorie Knoller, a San Francisco resident, was found guilty of murder in the Jan. 26, 2001, dog mauling of her neighbor, Diane Whipple.
Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous animal.
Although the defense argued Knoller had tried to stop the dog from attacking Whipple in their San Francisco apartment building, the prosecution had several witnesses testify, saying the same dog had lunged after each of them in previous encounters, according to a CNN online report.
“It was a series of actions, a series of failures to heed warnings, a series of careless taking of the dogs out and allowing them to lunge at people and attack people, that they had fallen into a pattern of actions which were inevitably leading to this result,” jury foreman Don Newton said in the CNN report.
Local officials are hoping something like the California case will never happen in Logan and want people to be aware of the consequences of such attacks.
Bryan Lay of Logan City Animal Control said he has never heard of anything of the sort happening in Utah.
“Once there was a dog owner who had died in Ogden, and the dog ate the body,” Lay said. “They thought she had been attacked, but after more investigation found out she was already dead before the dog got to her.”
Lay also said there are three instances in Logan where pet owners can be charged by law if their dogs attack someone.
If a dog is aggressive toward someone and isn’t on a leash, it is considered running at large and carries a $100 fine.
The second offense is called “molesting a passerby.” If a dog runs off the owner’s property and acts aggressive in any way toward someone merely passing by, the law can intervene.
“It doesn’t even have to hurt the person,” Lay said. “It is an offense even if the person is just scared, unless the person stops to pet the dog. Then it is their fault.” The third item someone can be charged with is the attack of another domestic animal. If a dog chases someone’s cat, for example, and hurts it, the owner of the dog may have to pay a fine to the city, as well. Each of these offenses are considered class B misdemeanors, but they can change depending on the city and jurisdiction, Lay said.
“Generally speaking it is the owner’s responsibility to have the dog on their property or a leash and not in the open back of a truck,” Lay said.
He said if an offense does not fit into any of the above circumstances, a person could still be tried civilly if the person attacked chooses to sue.
“That is where things can get rough because it starts to affect other things such as home owner’s insurance,” Lay said.
Ed Toone, insurance broker for Farmer’s Insurance Group, said, although his is not one of them, there are some companies who will not even insure certain breeds of dogs like Doberman Pinschers or Pit Bulls.
“If a dog does bite somebody, a company may opt to not continue the home owner’s policy or exclude the dog from the policy,” Toone said.
He said insurance companies don’t want to deal with aggressive dogs because they are such a great liability.
“I can just about guarantee it will raise havoc with the insurance,” he said. “I have recommended that some people get rid of their dogs so they don’t have to deal with it.”
Under the liability portion of the coverage, Toone said, dog bites cost an insurance agency more than anything else.
“It even beats trampolines, which is number two,” he said.
The best advice he could give to prevent anything from happening is to keep a dog chained or muzzled.
Lay said the best prevention is to keep the animal confined and in control.
“If your dog is indoors, there isn’t a very large chance of anything happening,” he said.
In cases where the dog is known to have a tendency to attack people, Lay said, the animal should always wear a muzzle.
Lay, who has been attacked three times, said it isn’t hard to tell when a dog will attack.
“For the most part you can tell when they are really coming to get you because they show all their teeth and their ears lay back,” he said.
Lay said the best offense when a dog seems aggressive is not to run, but to tell it “No” in a loud voice.
“It also helps to wave something in front of it to confuse it,” he said.