Push for tougher dog control laws

Changes to dog control rules in Canterbury’s Waimakariri district could see tighter restrictions on where dog owners can let their dogs off a leash.

A Waimakariri District Council panel heard submissions to its draft Dog Control Bylaw on Thursday, including from Larissa Corboy, who underwent surgery after being attacked by a pack of dogs in June.

Corboy urged the council to look at regulating specific breeds and dog types, saying dangerous breeds and part-breeds in the district should be identified. The five dogs involved in her attack were all bull breeds.

‘‘All dogs can bite but when these dogs bite it’s not something you can walk away from,’’ she said.

She also criticised the council’s processes in the lead-up to her attack, saying they failed to take action after reports of the same dogs attacking people and stock.

Four of the five dogs were put down, but the fifth was deemed safe to stay with its owner pending a court case.

Corboy said complaints were not being taken seriously enough.

‘‘The dog that’s still alive has bitten a person. How would you feel if your grandmother lived next door?’’

Regulations were already in place to deal with dangerous situations such as worrying stock, yet the council was not enforcing those existing rules, Corboy said.

Mary Sparrow, who had been badly bitten by a pack of dalmatians, said the issue for her was the number of dogs people were allowed. Any owner with three or more non-working dogs should have a secure exercise area on their own property, she said.

Sparrow also called for tighter control for people with more than two dogs in a public place, and the urban restriction on dog numbers extended to rural areas.

The issue of voice control was also raised. The draft bylaw adds the clause, ‘‘dogs that are not able to be kept under effective voice control around horses shall be placed on a lead when in the vicinity of a horse’’.

Lenore Miller said the average owner was not able to reliably control a dog with their voice.

‘‘I couldn’t control mine if we were out in a paddock and it sees a rabbit. Don’t say ‘under voice control’ – the average Joe Blo doesn’t.’’

Woodend-Sefton Community Board chairwoman Shona Powell said the interpretation of the word ‘‘control’’ was the problem.

Owners frequently took their dogs to the dog park but then did not monitor them, she said. It was the same problem on the beach.

Councillor Sandra Stewart, a dog breeder, said she took her responsibilities seriously, but was prepared to see tighter restrictions in play.

‘‘Larissa’s attack was an example of poor dog ownership,’’ she said. ‘‘If there were more restrictions, I could live with it.’’

There were 78 submissions to the draft bylaw, 23 of which concerned leashing dogs in public spaces. More than half of those supported restricting dogs to leashes when in any public area, apart from dog parks in most cases.

The majority of the remaining submissions wanted dogs leashed while in urban areas or when using roads or footpaths.

A small number wanted further restrictions, such as dogs muzzled in public, dogs over 10 kilograms muzzled, or dogs banned from public spaces completely.

The hearing panel’s recommendations will be presented to the new council after the October elections.