City Of American Canyon Online Community Forums

Ok, well maybe I made the subject a little more spunk than it should be, but I wanted to get a discussion going about dogs in our city. I am not bashing people who have dogs, but I really believe there are serious problems waiting to happen because of people who cant take care of their pets.

Because of growing up in AmCan I still have a personal phobia when I am around big dogs, they make me shiver and sweat sometimes. I have seen my neighbor's dog bite off a persons flesh from their arm, the ambulance taking him away, and the scene is always fresh in my mind. I've had to come home from school and there, waiting for all the children, is a nice little rot riler running around chasing all the poor kids. I remember at napa junction we couldnt go outside one recess because of a dog loose and they didnt know where he was. One time the neighbor's dog jumped our fence and bit my grandma! Another neighbor's dog, they broke through a hole in the corner. You would go for a walk in AmCan, and there are at least a few houses where you walk by and you hear this chain rattling, large barking, and you walk a little faster. It was so bad that we took 20 minutes in our karate class on how to fight off a dog in AmCan! I still remember it, "punch it in the nose!", "use your backpack as something so it can grab on instead of your hand".

This is something I have seen only in AmCan, for whatever the reason, I am not totally sure. But I see a lot of people with dangerous types of dogs, they work, they arent home, and the dog gets out. I see these stupid morons strutting with their dogs "check out my rot riler, we named him killa c". They tie them up and tease them to see how much druel can come out of their mouth. I really feel these are accidents waiting to happen.

I just hope that if you got a dog, the pitbull or rot type, that you take care of them. I have nothing against them, just keep our city safe. There are a lot of children in our city, they play outside, the last thing they want to see is a dog charging at their neck. So many times people in our city have had accidents because of dogs. There are a lot of problems with dogs barking too. There should be higher punishments for people who break our dog laws, and I feel there should be some sort of free classes maybe by our police department, to teach owners the proper way to handle these large dogs. They are cute and cuddly 99% of the time, but they are still animals, that 1% could be when you are not home or your baby is in the backyard. We all love our pets but remember to take care of them and take care of AmCan as well.

Issa, is there a leash law in Am Can?

There is up here in Napa, but I see owners flaunting it constantly. They walk their dogs in parks that have signs that clearly state "no dogs allowed" when they could go two blocks to a designated dog park, where they could let their dog off the leash legally.

But, as you say, it's not all owners, just the lazy or bad few that make the impact. Really, I don't tend to notice the other type of owners myself. These guys just stick out like a sore thumb.

yay i see wear your coming from i used to live in a bad part of vacaville
and those dogs where all out to get you one time two huge dogs
juped over there four foot fence and bit my freind on the leg he was so badly ingered he couldnt walk and he now has a wheel chair
plus there are these two anoying dogs on both sides of my house we live near the fir station and when the fire truks turn on there sirens they howl like banshees its so anoying and plus my aunt is going camping and she is going to let me wach her golden rechrever brettly he is so nice plus he is very old so i dont whant him near mean dogs because hes to old to fight and such.

The "dangerous" dogs that are allowed to be pets in American Canyon should be licensed. Their owners should have to post a $1 million dollar bond and they should never be allowed of their leashes or without supervision in their yards.

I lived in a community back East that the entire county (which was quite large) did not allow pitbulls and another breed of dangerous dog. The surrounding county put the 1 million dollar bond into effect and it pretty much eliminated the dogs too.

I am always amazed when I go to Donaldson Way the fools that have their pit bulls running loose by the playground equipment or the ignorant owner who brings the pitbull to the little league and ties it up by the snack shack (unattended) of course.

Fact: Pit bulls alone are responsible for 27% of all vicious dog attacks but only represent 3% of the ownership. That's alot of violence coming from one breed.

I would like to see AmCan eliminate the breed in our small community.

i really dont think eleminating those dogs out of our comunity is the right thing maybe will have to take manditory lessons on how to rase those kinds of dogs and any one that has a pitbull without a licesnse will get fined lik 1000 dollars or so because it isnt the dog its how its raised

I hate all them damn dogs. They crap all over the place. Some of them bark all the time and make a peaceful night or morning NOISY.

Our community should be dog free of outside dogs that make noise and bite people when they get out.

thanx for telling that geust but no dogs is just outrages its just crazy
im glad that that is your opinion because that would never work
what would happen if the dogs werent here lots of familys would leave kids would not have a good freind to cudel with and such so just because you had a bad experiance dosnt mean that all kids in ac will be punished and such i had a bad expsereans and my freind had it wors but dogs are great if you give them lots of love and atention

You may want to read the article in this week's Eagle "Pit bull attack leaves pets dead, owner angry"

Yea I am aware of the article. I was sent a letter by Eric about his dog before the article came out asking for some help from the community about what we can all do. That is why I started this topic, to get some input and to let the city become aware this is a problem.

I live in the community where the dogs killed the cat(I know the neighbor who this happened to) There are tons of little kids always out on the streets in our community, riding bikes, running around..we have a security gate here and the streets are pretty quiet around here..but thankfully it was just a cat and not one of the kids running around. The dog owner should be punished..he just moved one of the dogs to Vallego??So does that mean it won't be viscious in another county?..what a load of dog crap..

I guess a human would have had to have been mauled before these stupid county or city people would have done something...very sad!

So, is there a leash law in Am Canyon?

im preatty sure there is

This topic reminds me of something I was troubled with when I saw the design of the Veterans Park. The fenced in dog area is located next to the playground. Is this not possibly an accident waiting to happen?

The city and county leash law are the same... go to co.napa.ca.us and look in the county codes on line......

I have posted a link to the county's site to search the county code's regarding animals....

http://napacounty/code2000/_DATA/TITLE06/index.html

Below is the code regarding animals at large:

6.04.190 Dogs at large prohibited.

It is unlawful for any person who owns, harbors or keeps, or who has possession, charge, care, custody or control of any dog over the age of four months in the county to permit the dog to run at large upon any public street, highway or other place, or to permit such dog to run upon the property of another without the consent of the owner. (Prior code § 7026)

Thanks!

You guys have some valid points. Maybe there should be class on how to raise certain breeds of dogs, but it's not just pitbulls & rots. My married a guy when I was a teenager who had a golden retriever. We had to keep him (the golden) away from kids because he would attack them. As a kid my grandmothers chiwuawa (sp?) took a nice bite out of my ankle. Besides there is a STATE LAW that says you can not discriminate against certain breeds of dogs. OWNERS NEED TO BE RESPONSIBLE NO MATTER WHAT BREED OF DOG THEY HAVE. Our neighbors have what sounds like 10 dogs (indoor) and I can still hear them yapping. As for the article in the paper about the pitbull that attacked... the guy is full of shit about some of what he said. there is NO WAY he could have jumped on top of that pit and held him down if the pit was sooooo violent without getting a chunk taken out of him while doing so, especially since there were two of them. Don't get me wrong, the owners are definatly responsible. I don't know about rots, but as for pits it's all in how they are raised. As for leash laws I do believe there is one and ALL dogs are required to be licensed! Quit blaming the breed and start blaming the OWNER. and maybe if the laws were inforced regarding dogs, there would be less incidents. Just my two cents.

OWNERS NEED TO BE RESPONSIBLE NO MATTER WHAT BREED OF DOG THEY HAVE.

Here, here! I wholeheartedly agree!

Another Pit-bull attack, Santa Rosa a mother and her 8 year old. The child was severly bitten and mauled in the face, the mother attacked in the arm. Other family members had to beat the dog off with a shovel, pool que and fists.

These were innocent people in their backyard. This was the neighbors dog! And of course has never shown aggressive behavior, is loved and the best pet! Just comes barrelling into a back-yard and starts attacking.

Pet owners must be responsible!

Pit bulls are dangerous, life threating animals. No amount of training, love or discipline will change their breed. Not so many years ago pit bulls were used to kill cows by attacking at the neck and then dragging the cow for slaughter.

Pit bulls are unpredictable and can "crack" at at moments notice. I'ne never read of a yorkie, poodle, dauschaund, lab, hound dogs etc... mauling and killing innocent victims.

Actually poodles are in the top 10 breed of dogs that bite.

some might want to check out this web site

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/ ... 4774.shtml

But poodles do not bite to kill, or maul or run through fences to attak!

In the last 30 days I've not read one story about a poodle but 7 pitbull killings, maulings etc..

Also poodles cannot bite down 100 times their weight.

this is true, I really do believe it depends on an owner. You have to have very stable family conditions and like chows you can't leave them in your back yard all day long every day without contact with the family. I personally dont believe people who work your typical 40 + hour work week should own them nor should people who move around constantly. Just my own opinion and my own experiences with them. Not to say you can't have a socialable pit if you do work those hours, but you'll have a lot of work ahead of you. Pits will almost always give some kind of warning signs that they have become unstable. Not to outsiders eyes, but the owner will know but most just choose to live in denile or do not know their dog well. Pits when trained & socialized properly make great pets are great with kids. Petey (sp?)on the Little rascals (both orginal & remake)is a pit.

yes i totaly agree with you it dependes on the owner and the family

I think American Canyon should take the pit "bull" by the horns,and put together an ordinance regarding vicious breeds, of which pitbulls should be included.

Perhaps there should be a few things regarding dogs:

Ban Pitbulls and other known dangerous dogs within city limits
A barking ordinance for dogs that bark all the time- I am sure there is something that can be mimicked from another municipality- as this is a nuisance in several areas.

All dogs are dangerous under certain conditions. We had a pitbull called Cindy who lived to be an old lady and was a great dog, at the same time we also had a standard poodle called Pepe and he was aggresive and eventually attacked a member of the family. He was put to sleep and the pitbull gave us companionship for a great number of years without so much as a growl! I am not saying that we should not be aware of so called dangerous breeds but it all boils down to the owner and their obligation to their pets and the community.

San francisco- Death in an apartment by pitfulls- 12 year old mauled to death by the "family pet", todays San Francisco Chronicle front page- girl mauled by pitbull. Enough already

California will never support "banning" a particular breed. Pitbulls just are the breed of the moment, there are other breeds as well that are just as dangerous.

Where the changes need to be are as follows:

Registration for all 4 aggressive rated breeds according to the SPCA with local police authorities.

All breeds above to be required to have microchips.

Upon registering the dog with police/city the home owner must carry a "vicious pet" rider with a 1 million dollar separate policy.

If the dog is outside of the home or yard it must be on a leash and muzzled. (for a short time only).

If a dog has a recorded incident then it must be removed from the home and put to sleep. No ifs, ands or buts.

As for the barking... there is an ordinance that requires an owner to take the dog inside after 10pm if it has complaints. But is must have a few neighbors to get a ticket.

People will think twice before getting on of these dogs if they have these restrictions.

Also if they fail to register the dog with the city they get a warning ticket for $500.00, if not accomplished within 10 days they take the dog.

Paul,

I'm glad to see you agree with my earlier suggestion to put some type of ordinance in AC to ban aggressive types of dogs specifically pit-bulls.

As I had mentioned earlier many communities back east have put ordinances into cities, neighborhoods and counties not allowing certain breeds of dogs. One county forbid all pits, rots, and other breeds, while the neighboring county made homeowners put up a one million dollar bond to own the vicious breeds.

Great Idea!

Hey Paul & Guest, you better start going on getting the signuatures and start protesting because it's a STATE law you will have to get overturend!
As for microchips and registrations etc etc, good luck. They barley inforce the existing laws regarding dogs, what makes you think they will inforce more laws??!!!!! As for the SF incident, here we go again with a moran in the city who thinks he can lock up his dog in his apartment or house all day and probably doesn't get walks eaither. The city is no place for any kind of dog, just like New york is no place for a dog except maybe the little dogs. Come on people were is your common sense? You should'nt have a husky in the city either. Certain breeds require certain conditions. Such as huskys need lots of room to run, they are extremely high energy. etc etc. There is no way to monitor what everyone is doing, THATS REALITY!!!!! If we could then kids wouldn't own guns, drug dealers wouldn't be selling drugs etc etc. People who don't obey the law simply dont obey no matter how strict you make the laws. ARE YOU GOING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BREEDING THEM. NO!! You
d have to have law enforcement search every house every day, but then that's a violation of our rights here in america. To the person who thinks there should be more laws regarding them, I don't mean to bash you, I actually agree, but it just won't solve the problem. Neither will banning them completely. THere are always people who don't care about what the law says.

I agree something should be done but penalizing every dog owner and taking away the rights of residents by posting huge bonds and whatnot is not the answer. Its not the dogs, its the owners. Perhaps limits on how many dogs an owner can have, stricter laws for barking, and much higher penalties for owners who cant take care of their pets. Again, I would like to see a free public class about dogs, how to take care of them and such for our city. Maybe foundation requirements as well, like you need a certain height fence for a certain size dog. Also higher enforcement when complaints are made keeping in mind the police staff is busy and some complaints would just be from whiny neighbors. The last thing we want to do is tell residents with dogs they arent welcome.

Issa I couldn't agree more!!!

I must diagree with the previous statements. The county back east that outlawed pit bulls has one one of the highest resale values for their housing, attracts upper-middle class citizens, has more developed park-space for families than the average community. People like the law, respect it and feel safe in their community.

In todays Times Herald a leading dog expert is quoted as saying that certain breeds, pits, chows, shiarpeis and rots are the four most dangerous breeds. In most cases he says the responsibility for aggressive dogs lies with the owner. BUT these dogs were bred for specific purposes, and their natural behavior can be dangerous to people, he said.

To sum it up folks no amount of loving, walking, feeding TLC will make these dogs safe!

I found an excellent site to check out http://www.dogbitelaw.com go to Journalists and then statistics. It is very clear on CA law and is very interesting. See below:

The most horrifying example of the lack of breed predictibility is the October 2000 death of a 6-week-old baby, which was killed by her family's Pomeranian dog. The average weight of a Pomeranian is about 4 pounds, and they are not thought of as a dangerous breed. Note, however, that they were bred to be watchdogs! The baby's uncle left the infant and the dog on a bed while the uncle prepared her bottle in the kitchen. Upon his return, the dog was mauling the baby, who died shortly afterwards. ("Baby Girl Killed by Family Dog," Los Angeles Times, Monday, October 9, 2000, Home Edition, Metro Section, Page B-5.)

AC needs to pass a vicious dog ordiance- public safety first, the hell with these dam dogs- I say, SHOOT EM on SITE!

We may want to let San Francisco take the lead and then follow after they deal with what is legal or not. I felt there was something wrong with that mother from the news report the day after her son was killed. Then to find out that the boy had been bitten prior to her leaving him...she deserves to be prosecuted. Dog owner's famous last words always seem to be, "Oh, don't worry he/she doesn't bite". I think I've even said it!

yay its just sad when some one has to die for anything to be done around hear

A Guest on Thurs. mentioned that a pit bull can bite at 100 times it's weight. I'm curious what is the bite of an average dog or rot or doberman?
And what is the average weight of a pit?

http://www.dogbitelaw.com
This website has excellent information and stats that are worth looking at.

On this mornings news report there were three more pit bull attacks yesterday, June 27. One in Oakland, one in SF and one in Rhonert Park. All three dogs attacked strangers, two children and one dog.

Ban the breed.

Of course on the TV, one owner said that the dog was very gentle and would never harm anyone. This is the one that bit a childs chest.

If you go to the website dogbite.com and read what the circumstances are relating to a pibull attack, all but one, was negligence on the owners. Also, check out this website:

http://www.pitbullproblem.tk

Back in April there was a story about an elderly lady walking down the street and was attacked by a Chow. While one of the people who saw what was going dialed 911 for help, his 2 pitbulls saved the elderly women from the Chow. The pitbull did not once even hint at being vicious towards her. But the papers don't like to relay those stories.

Another link: Akita/Shepard mix
http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.c ... =461&rfi=9

http://www.furryfriendsfoundation.com/T ... ruth03.htm

Education is the only cure for ignorance.

Another attack yesterday, thankfully against another dog in the SouthBay.

Pit Bulls

Attack today in Napa by two pit bulls on the loose. Attacked child on bicycle.

Still no poodles, yorkies or wieners attacking people!

I couldn't believe my eyes today. I shop at the Safeway in AC. This morning around 10:30 am there were two pit bulls tied up together along the bench area. They had access of about 5 feet. This is a diaster waiting to happen.

I can top that one! Someone let their two pitbulls run loose at the Little League fields during the All Star tournament.

Ok I can top that one! Yesterday my husband saw the two latin families that are related, who own homes back to back. Whose kids were climbing over the fences to go back and forth.

Unfortunately one of the kids is big and knocked out some boards allowing his pit bull to charge into the other yard and attack that pit bull mix puppy. The kids we jumping up and down yelling "get him", "bite him" and laughing. No parental supervision. Finally after one of the dogs became injured it retreated while the other went back to it's yard.

They all have pitbulls, pocket bikes, and bottle-rockets and no common sense.

I just got back from a quick trip from Safeway (8p.m.). Outside in the parking lot was a large pick-up truck with a pitbull loose in the back (it was the brindle kind). The owner must have been in the store or somewhere. Watch out poodles!

How about the article in Napa ...... shoot I forgot the name of the little paper, not the register. anyway there was a story written by a napa resident who wanted to ban pitbulls and actually refered pitbulls to mixed black/white people. How's that for racism???? OH, I forgot american canyon is filled with people who are against other races why would you care!!!!
As far as the loose pitbulls... the owners are definatly morons, but don't blame dog because it has morons as owners. And for the pit who attacked the neighbors pit and the kids egging it on, that's just the behavior of people who own pits that will attack, so beware.

Okay for starters I've always been concerned about the in breeding of humans in Napa. I now have evidence that it is rampant!

A lady in todays Register, editorial was talking about her pitbull and how faithful and loving etc. it was for some fourteen years. In fact when she gave birth to her daughter nine years ago the dog actually had nipple development and lactated milk (her mothering instinct) in order to help feed the baby. What the ______? Talk about a true nut case.

Send all the lactating pitbulls up to Napa.