City adds teeth to dangerous dog plan
Who let the (dangerous) dogs out?
Toronto city council is making it easier for people to get more information about dangerous dogs in the city, but owner’s names will remain private.
Following up on an item debated at last month’s economic development committee meeting, council unanimously approved the recommendations on how the city deals with dogs who bite, attack and maul victims.
“There has been an uptick in biting,” said Coun. Paula Fletcher during Thursday’s council meeting. Fletcher is behind the motion, and was motivated to take action when one of her constituents was mauled in a dog attack in July 2023.
It’s dog owners that don’t care who are the problem, Fletcher said. “There aren’t that many bad dogs I’ll say in the city, but there are irresponsible dog owners.”
One of the reasons Fletcher introduced these moves is that the dogs that attacked her constituent were already under dangerous dog orders, but the owner wasn’t complying with the existing rules. She’s hoping these new tools will help with enforcement of dangerous dog orders and share more information about dangerous dogs with the public.
The city approved a new dangerous dog registry with information about dog attacks including the dog’s name, picture, breed, how severe the bite was and the first three digits of the postal code where it lives. The owner’s name or address will not be listed. In addition, a sign warning of a dangerous dog must be posted where it lives. It’s something that many have dubbed a name-and-shame approach.
Council also approved $500,000 to create a public education campaign and support compliance and enforcement of dangerous dog orders. An amendment to the motion asked the province to look into setting higher fines as penalties for dog owners.
The new motion strengthens existing rules around dangerous dogs, which include: dog owners being held responsible if their dog attacks someone — even criminally if the attack is serious enough; animals being seized and assessed by Animal Services; and depending on the nature of the attack, dangerous dog orders being assigned to the owner and the dog. Dogs under a dangerous dog order have to be licensed, be on a leash and muzzled when out of their homes. As well, owners receive additional training on how to handle the dog.
City staff said there were 450 dogs under dangerous dogs orders currently in the city, 15 of which were responsible for serious attacks. The city recently did an audit of the dogs under dangerous dog orders.
“Most of them are in compliance (with the orders),” said Dr. Esther Attard, director, Animal Services, City of Toronto. “We have just recently, over the past few months, gone through and made sure that everyone is licensed, has a muzzle, has the signage, has the training. The licensing and the training is what people have the most trouble with.”