Posted On: April 29, 2004, 8:35 am CDT

Posted By: Greg

A few years ago, I had a standard Poodle. He was an adorable boy, great with our family. He would not tolerate visitors to the house, and on several occasions chased visiting children.

He bit a person once. A neighbor came into our yard with a petition in hand and the dog barked at him, then circled behind and bit his calf. No charges were pressed and we muzzled him from then on.

This dog went through obedience classes. This dog was loved. This dog was kept inside the house. This dog was walked on a leash. We had him for 2 1/2 years before deciding that he wasn't getting any better.

The final straw came when Simon attacked our other dog, with no provocation.

After much soul-searching, I took Simon to the vet and put him down, and it was one of the hardest things I've done in my life. I held him as he slipped away. After doing my best for this dog, I had decided that he wasn't able to reform and we were unwilling to continue to live this way. I still wonder if it was the right thing.

This law is not for ME. It's probably not for you, either, since by reading this online forum, you are probably a person with some education and middle class responsibilities.

So I wonder, who is this law for?

The problem, as I perceive it, is this. Dogs, when untrained and unmanaged, can be a nuisance or even become dangerous. People who keep dogs need to understand this responsibility. Sadly, many people do not, as evidenced by the number of dogs in the 1 year old range that are sent to shelters every year to be destroyed.

I don't see this insurance scheme as a realistic solution to the problem.

The insurance approach builds a risk pool and protects the insurance companies while not fixing the problem. Responsible dog owners will be funding their own punishment under this law, while the irresponsible parties go without insurance, without license, without cares.

If you have a problem dog, it's not hard to find out. Your neighbors probably know already. Ask them if you're not sure. The dog warden may have an opinion too, especially if he's picked up your dog as a stray a few times. Rather than punishing all dog owners and creating paperwork, why not just enforce the laws that exist regarding loose or agressive dogs? Rather than establishing complex actuarial classifications of a dog breed's propensity to bite, why not just punish the biters and their owners?

Does anyone seriously think that the unlicensed, unmanaged dogs in New York City pose the same risk as my two licensed, trained, vaccinated dogs in their chain link fenced back yard 300 mile away upstate?

I think this law is a bad idea because it does not solve the problem, and it creates new problems.