By Elizabeth Cloutman
 Photo by Joe Hu, Town Crier |
Despite concerns about dog attacks in other cities, most Los Altos dogs are well-behaved and much-loved
A golden retriever, its face contented and its coat gleaming, relaxed recently in front of the Main Street Starbucks Coffee. A small white bucket labeled “Starbucks dog water” was by the animal’s side. The retriever was just one of a dozen or so obviously well-groomed and happy canines seen accompanying their owners in downtown Los Altos that sunny afternoon.
If you think Los Altos and Los Altos Hills appear to be towns that have “gone to the dogs,” you’re right. Palo Alto Animal Services reports 2,000 licensed dogs are living in Los Altos and 750 in Los Altos Hills. “People really care about their dogs in this area and treat them like family members,” said Jerry Berg, a veterinarian at the Adobe Animal Hospital in Los Altos.
Look no further than the annual Kiwanis Pet Parade in downtown Los Altos as proof. Many, if not most, of the animals paraded down Main and State streets are dogs. This year’s parade is scheduled for May 18.
While concern over recent tragic dog attacks in San Francisco and Richmond prompted one Los Altos city council member to suggest banning certain breeds, local officials report the vast majority of local canines belong to responsible and caring owners. They have received no recent complaints of dog bites that resulted in serious injuries to humans.
“People are generally very responsible with their animals here,” said Paul Ray, community service officer for the Los Altos police department.
Los Altos Hills City Manager Maureen Cassingham noted, “The complaints we receive about the dogs in Los Altos Hills tend to revolve around dogs that bark or that are off-leash.”
Reports have no effect
A volunteer coordinator for Palo Alto Animal Services said news reports on the attacks have neither increased the number of large dogs it has received nor decreased the adoption of dogs. Betty-Anne Stenmark explained that the canines that were most likely to come to animal services are “young ‘teen-age’ dogs whose owners didn’t realize how large the dogs would become and the care they would need, and who didn’t take them to obedience classes. This has gone on for years.”
According to one Los Altos realtor, the attacks have also not led to people expressing greater concern over purchasing homes in neighborhoods with large dogs. “My only experience (involving dogs) was in selling one home, I had to include in a disclosure statement that a neighbor dog had killed the small dog of a client,” said Charlene Geers of Coldwell Banker in Los Altos.
Despite the recent attacks, local and regional offices for two major insurance companies said they do not and do not plan to deny homeowner’s liability insurance to owners of particular breeds perceived as being aggressive, such as American bull (pit bull) terriers or Rottweilers.
Janet Ruiz, Bay Area media relations specialist for State Farm Insurance’s regional office, said that while there are 20 fatal dog attacks annually, the vast majority of dog bite claims her company receives are the result of a dog’s being stressed or frightened in a single situation. “We don’t refuse insurance or charge a higher premium for certain breeds because there are good dogs and bad dogs in every breed,” she said.
Lisa Wannamaker, corporate relations specialist for All State Insurance’s regional office in Sacramento, agreed. “We look at each case individually.”
Few serious incidents
In Los Altos, the few serious incidents that occurred in past years have usually involved dogs attacking other animals. However, in September 1995, three unleashed American pit bulls belonging to Hank Harrison bit resident Gwen Francis once while she was walking her Labrador Hogan. Hogan suffered 40-50 puncture wounds.
Harrison’s dogs were declared vicious and condemned to death by a public hearing officer. However, several weeks later the city council in a closed session reversed the decision following Harrison’s threat to sue the town. The council reached a settlement in which Harrison and his wife were required to pay the dogs’ $1,085 kennel fee. The dogs were designated as potentially dangerous and Los Altos was to notify animal control officials in Stanislaus County, where the Harrisons and their dogs relocated.
Francis and neighbors who witnessed the attack spoke of their anger at the council’s decision. Steve Baird, assistant city attorney, filed criminal complaints against Harrison for leash law violations and for allowing the dogs to molest a passerby.
Public debate began anew in January 2000, when San Francisco resident Diane Whipple died after two large Presa Canarios belonging to her neighbors Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel attacked her. A Los Angeles jury convicted the couple of manslaughter, and Knoller became the first person in California history to be convicted of second-degree murder for a death due to a dog attack.
Nearly six months later, Richmond resident Shawn Jones, then 11, suffered severe disfigurement to his face, ears and right arm, and nearly died following an attack by three unleashed pit bulls. The dogs’ owner, Benjamin Moore, was charged with a misdemeanor for concealing the pit bulls following the attack. Jones spent four months in two hospitals before he was able to return home, and his doctors said he will need at least five years of reconstructive surgery.
Dog bites typically occur when small children try to pet the animals, and the dogs, frightened, nip at them, Ray said. “When (the two attacks) happened, I did get a lot more complaints about dogs running loose, with people concerned the dogs might get run over.” He added, “People are a lot more observant now. There’s a little more awareness (of stray dogs), and that’s good.”
Last July, Councilman Francis La Poll asked that city council members consider prohibiting certain breeds of dogs - in particular, those with “jaws that lock” - from living in Los Altos. “We’ve already had our share of dog bites,” La Poll said at the time. “I think we need to be proactive.”
The council has not taken any action toward such a ban. The Los Altos dog ordinance requires only that the animals be licensed and leashed in public and that owners pick up their pets’ feces from sidewalks and lawns.
Owners, not dogs, to blame
Los Altos resident Lil Beltramo had two pit bulls until their deaths. Both were loving pets that played with her grandchildren. She now has another large dog - a husky-malamute mix that is also very loving, she said. She feels strongly that owners, not dogs, are to blame for attacks.
“Those dogs were mistreated, trained to fight,” she said of Knoller and Noel’s Presa Canarios. “There should not be any more fear of big dogs than little dogs.”
The Insurance Information Institute noted that there are 4.7 million reported dog bites annually. Claims cost insurance companies $310 million in 1999 alone. The institute advised owners to have dogs spayed or neutered to reduce the likelihood of their biting, but Berg said he believed the propensity for aggression was more a matter of genetics and training.
Owners should also socialize dogs so they are comfortable around other dogs and humans, the institute recommended. Owners should avoid playing aggressive games with their dogs.
Choosing a dog
Stenmark, who is also a dog breeder and an American Kennel Club judge, offered practical advice to those who might be considering dog ownership. She explained that when deciding on a dog, people should consider carefully its temperament, its parentage and what the animal is bred for, and also realize their responsibilities as owners. “Temperament has high inheritability. Dogs who have high-tempered parents are much more likely to have a high temperament,” she said. “Dogs bred for work can be naturally more aggressive than breeds that are not. (Owners) need to be knowledgeable dog people who know how to instill the proper instincts.”
Stenmark said Palo Alto Animal Services was offering a pit bull named Mikey for adoption. “He’s a great dog. We’re going to keep him until we find him a good home … In the hands of knowledgeable dog people, pit bulls can be the world’s greatest dogs.”
Stenmark recommends all dogs and their owners attend an obedience class. “It teaches owners to be responsible and teaches the dog how to behave in a strange environment around strange people and strange dogs. There isn’t a dog in existence that shouldn’t go to obedience school.”
She also offered advice on how to avoid getting bitten by a dog: “No parent should let their child go up to a strange dog. Adults also shouldn’t approach strange dogs.”
