Moses Lake leaves hazardous dog ordinance as is

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake City Council took no action when asked to reconsider the hazardous dog ordinance.

The city council recently adopted an ordinance declaring pit bulls, rottweilers and presa canarios as hazardous dogs. To own a hazardous dog, pet owners must obtain a $250,000 insurance policy for the animal in case it harms someone, it must be spayed or neutered, have a microchip installed, be confined to an enclosed structure and costs $150 to register with the city.

A hazardous dog can also include any individual dog of any breed that habitually bites, attacks and threatens another human or animal on public property.

The city council read information prepared by police Chief Dean Mitchell and ways for hazardous dog owners to acquire insurance. They also discussed several studies related to attacks and maimings caused by pit bulls and rottweilers.

City Manager Joe Gavinski said according to the information he reviewed, the majority of mauling and maiming incidents are caused by pit bulls and rottweilers.

Heidi Woody told the council she owns a pit bull.

She said it’s unfair to declare animals who have never displayed aggressive behavior as hazardous without allowing some type of exclusion from the list for dogs who are clearly not aggressive and have temperance tests and obedience school to prove it.

Woody said she has renter’s insurance that can pay up to $200,000 if her dog were to attack but as soon as her dog is labeled hazardous, she will no longer be covered by her renter’s insurance.

Without having renter’s insurance, she said she fears she will be evicted from her home where she’s lived for more than 10 years.

Requiring pet owners to confine their animals and muzzle them will result in the animal becoming vicious, Woody claims.

She said pet owners should be given a chance to prove their dog should not be on the list.

Diane Nichols has a rottweiler and asked council at a previous meeting to consider information as to why the animal should not be on the list.

She said some information they reviewed was misleading. Several studies stated more than 60 percent of vicious attacks were caused by pit bulls and rottweilers while only a small percentage of the 60 percent was actually committed by a rottweiler. She said she didn’t understand why the rottweiler was grouped with the pit bull for the statistics because it was disproportionate.

There are not many rottweilers in Moses Lake and there has never been a maiming or death caused by a rottweiler in the city, Nichols said.

Police Chief Dean Mitchell confirmed in a letter, there have been few rottweiler attacks. Over the past five years, there were five bites and four vicious rottweilers reported, he noted. There are seven rottweilers registered with the city.

“A rottweiler isn’t a dangerous breed,” Nichols said.

She said it should be removed from the list but pit bulls should remain.

Councilmember James Liebrecht said rottweilers are a dangerous breed, there just have not been any serious reports of the animal in Moses Lake.

“Rottweilers do kill and they have killed,” he said.

Nichols agreed.

“To single out the rottweiler is unfair,” she said.

Nichols said she is worried she will be required to relocate her dog to the county because she does not want to muzzle or confine it because it’s an inappropriate way to socialize a dog.

Councilmember Brent Reese said he is still against declaring specific dogs hazardous but agrees that if any dog bites or attacks, it should labeled hazardous on an individual basis.

He agreed with Nichols and Woody that confining a dog could lead to a negative change in its behavior.

Council took no action. They agreed they would prefer to see how the ordinance works once it goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009, before considering any changes.