Doctors work to save the arm of Vanier woman mauled by daughter's pit bull

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Doctors are optimistic they won’t have to amputate the arm of a woman who was mauled by a pit bull-type dog on the weekend, says her daughter, who owns the dog.

And despite a province-wide ban on new pit bulls instituted in 2005, neighbours of the family say the dogs are a very common sight in Vanier.

The woman who was attacked had surgery to repair the severe damage, said the daughter, who was interviewed on her doorstep but declined to give her name. Her mother was “in good spirits” in hospital on Tuesday, she said.

Luckily, the dog did not attack the mother’s face before neighbours rushed in with a big piece of wood to beat it back. The daughter called it a “miracle.”

It’s unclear how long her mother will be in hospital, the daughter said. “But she’s here, and she’s alive.”

The daughter said she accepts the decision of Ottawa bylaw officers to euthanize the male dog.

“You do what you have to do, if a dog is getting wild and angry, you respect that decision,” she said.

The mother, who lives upstairs in the same house, also owned a pit-bull type dog. That dog wasn’t involved in the attack, but it was removed from the house and is in the care of the Ottawa Humane Society pending an investigation, according to the city.

The dog that attacked had no history of aggression, said the daughter’s husband, who also declined to give his name. The attack was puzzling, he said, since the mother often took care of the dog when her daughter was away.

“We’re just devastated,” he said.

He refused to answer questions about the age of the dog, its breed, or where they obtained it.

Ontario brought in a ban on pit bulls in 2005. Anyone having a pit bull at the time of the ban could keep it, as long as the dog was sterilized and muzzled and kept on a leash in public. So the only legal pit bulls in the province are over age 11.

The law prohibits pit bull terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers, American pit bull terriers or any dog that “has an appearance and physical characteristics substantially similar to any of those dogs.” The city uses the general term “pit-bull type.”

City bylaw officials say the dog that attacked the 50-year-old woman on Saturday in Vanier was a “pit-bull type,” about three or four years old. It was not registered.

Officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether any charges will be laid in connection with the attack.

The city should do a better job of enforcing the pit-bull ban, said half a dozen neighbours interviewed at random on Tuesday afternoon.

“They’re everywhere in Vanier,” said Guy Cloutier, who was strolling with friends on nearby Mariel Avenue. A neighbour’s pit bull attacked him on Laval Street, said Cloutier, showing off a scar on his face. “I almost lost my eye.”

Cloutier said he had gone to the neighbour’s house to collect money he was owed. “He didn’t want to give me the money, so he sent his dog after me instead,” he said.

The man was jailed and the dog taken away.

His friend Diane Monette, who has lived in Vanier for 40 years, said pit bulls are the preferred choice for young toughs and drug dealers.

“Lots of young men have them,” she said. “Crack dealers have them. It’s really too bad.”

A man named Pierre, who lives nearby and didn’t want to give his last name, called the attack “really sad.” His neighbour, whom he calls a “weird guy,” lets his pit-bull type dog wander around outside without a leash or muzzle.

“Why does it take something like this (attack) to enforce the law?” he asked.

A mailman passing by said two nearby houses had two pit-bull type dogs each. If the dogs are outside, he doesn’t deliver the mail.

A few minutes later a man in a black convertible came to a screeching halt at the curb, asking what was going on. When told the newspaper was doing a story about pit bulls, he said the attack was a “freak accident.”

“I train pit bulls, I train Rottweilers,” said the man, who identified himself only as Garfield. “All dogs that have teeth bite! If the owners are stupid, they have stupid dogs.”

“It’s like a two-year-old kid,” he said. “If you train them properly not to be an assh***, they won’t be.”

He has dogs himself, the man said, indicating a house nearby. The door opened, and two sleek, brown, well-muscled dogs with square heads ran out the door onto the street. “Don’t look at the dogs!” he screamed. “Look at me!”

Michael Holmes, the neighbour who ran to help when he heard the woman being attacked, said bylaw officers need to step up enforcement against illegal pit bulls.

“There’s a need, and a want, to take some action on this, from all the neighbours I spoke to,” he said. “Nobody wants this to happen a second time. Who’s next? A child?”

However, the city says it’s difficult to determine by looking whether a dog is a pit bull covered by the ban.

“Case law from other jurisdictions confirms the difficulties municipalities have experienced when attempting to confirm that a dog meets the definition of a “pit bull” as prescribed by the Act and prosecuting under it,” said a statement from the city.

However, if a dog is vicious, the city can prosecute under both city bylaws and the Ontario law. Owners can face penalties of up to $10,000 in fines and six months in jail.

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