Dog A bites a woman after she scooped up the dog being attacked. The wound is minor, with some bruising for a week.
Dog B bites someone while being tethered in the front yard. According to the owner, the wound is a minor one.
The response?
Dog A is deemed a dangerous dog. Dog B is not. Under Madison's new law, dogs deemed dangerous must have higher fencing, be muzzled in public and post large warning signs surrounding the property. But this only applies to Dog A, not to Dog B. Dog B's owner is told that she just shouldn't tie her dog up in the front yard.
The twist is this: Dog B's owner is the woman bitten by Dog A. Of course Dog A is one of those breeds - the hell-hounds we all must leap into rush-hour traffic in order to avoid an all out killer shark attack. And Dog B is one of those breeds - those little yapping nuisances we wish would just knock themselves unconscious from all the barking and achilles-heel shredding. Still, it would be nice if the law, those supposed protectors of all, would, perhaps follow the law when dealing with the same issue - a dog bite breaking the skin.
So while Dog A must now be muzzled in public, now has a fifty foot high fence surrounding his property (I exaggerate), and whose owner must put up dangerous dog signs...Dog B? He can keep on attacking people because he is small. Having seen the very real results of a little girl's eye hanging out of her socket from a small Beagle's bite, I'm not sure the victims of "small dog bites" would agree with the bias in enforcing the law in Madison.
Article: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=97723&ntpid=4
Article Text:
Lydia Maurer was walking her dog, Jojo, when her neighbor's Rottweiler jumped a fence and started a fight.
The owner of the Rottweiler ran out and pulled his dog off hers, Maurer said, but she was bitten when the dog escaped his grasp and lunged for Jojo, which Maurer had scooped into her arms.
Maurer had two puncture wounds on her forearm and some bruising that she said took about a week to heal.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Rottweiler, Dale Peterson, began dealing with authorities as the owner of a dangerous dog.
Under new rules approved by the Madison City Council Tuesday night, owners of dogs that have caused injury will be impounded while authorities determine whether they are dangerous. If found dangerous, the dogs will not be released unless the owners prove that they have taken a range of safety precautions.
Owners of dangerous dogs are required to keep the animals behind fencing, post large warning signs at any possible entrance and muzzle the animals when they are not enclosed.
Additionally, these dogs must be spayed or neutered and have an identifying microchip implanted in them.
New fees also apply - the annual license for owning a dog ruled dangerous rises to $110, compared to $10 for the typical dog license.
In the past, many of the same safety precautions were employed by the city, but verification of the steps was not required by law before the owner could reclaim an animal.
Maurer said the restrictions enforced to keep her neighbor's Rottweiler from causing further harm have been effective.
The dog, named Cosmo, is now surrounded by a taller, stronger fence, among other changes.
"After the dog came home, I haven't seen him loose at all," she said. "I feel safe with Cosmo as a neighbor now."
Peterson could not be reached for comment this morning, but he told the Wisconsin State Journal earlier this year that people sometimes overreact to certain breeds of dogs and that he does not consider Cosmo to be dangerous.
There were 220 cases of dog bites in the city of Madison last year, but a dog being declared dangerous is relatively rare. In the past five years, fewer than 40 dogs in Madison have been so labeled.
Once a dog bite is reported, which is required by law, owners are contacted by one of the city's animal control officers.
If the bite broke the skin, Wisconsin law requires that the dog be quarantined until the threat of rabies can be ruled out. Sometimes, the cases are serious enough that owners voluntarily euthanize their dogs. In other cases, depending on the severity, the dog remains impounded while an investigation determines whether the dog is dangerous.
Since Maurer was bitten by Cosmo in March, she said her dog problems have reversed; Jojo bit someone in her north side neighborhood.
In that case, which she called minor, the city's animal control officers came out to advise her against keeping the dog tied in her front yard.
Halloween: The City Council on Tuesday night also delayed a vote on the two main components of Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's Halloween party plan.
These two components - fencing off State Street and charging admission - will be the subject of a hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 at Bascom Hall. The council voted to approve keeping glass away from the area and getting bids for the event and plans on finalizing plans later this month.