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Upgrade the animal control database already!
By Phyllis DeGioia
April 7, 2009
Ten days ago at the off-leash dog park, my 22-pound terrier mix Ginger was attacked by a big dog who tried to kill her. Ginger was lucky that she “only” need eight staples over her multiple puncture wounds, which will be taken out today. As I was rushing her out of the park to the vet, quickly trying to put real estate between my injured pet and the aggressive dog, my traumatized brain somehow remembered to ask the last name of the couple who owned him. He said something like Grizzo.
Both of my dogs came in to the park at the same time as the family of three and I didn’t sense any danger; they called their boxer mix Riley. I still don’t remember anything from the actual fight except a couple of panicked images; I recognized the owner as the man who came in at the same time I did.
There is no Grizzo, or Rizzo, in the animal control database. When I asked the animal control officer to search for a dog named Riley, she laughed and said “I wish.” If they could search by the dog’s name, we could easily see if there is a dog named Riley matching the description with a name similar to what I heard, and find the owners that way. Dane County can’t do that.
I called the city of Madison, Wisc., and talked to the folks in control of dog licenses. No, they can’t search on a dog’s name either. Well, why not, I asked; you ask us to list the dog’s names on the annual license application. “Yes, it’s in there,” she said, “but it’s under the owner’s last name so it’s not searchable. “
So let me get this straight: Within our city and county, you can only look up the name of the owner, but not the dog? Yep. How difficult can it be to create a field for this when the subfield is already in there? It’s just a database, for heaven’s sake, it can be changed to make improvements without enormous labor.
At this point, all animal control has been able to do is take a report and see if there is another incident. They told me that another person called about the fight and said an out of control dog attacked a small dog. I spoke to a park ranger when I posted a sign about the incident at the park, and while a couple of my phone numbers were taken, no one has called.
Why is this inability to search even an issue? It’s not like dog owners call out their last name when trying to stop a dog fight. “Stop that, Smith!” (Yes, I realize sarcasm is not becoming.) In cases such as this one, the only real hope of reporting the attacker is to search by the person’s last name. Someone at the county said, “Usually people wait for animal control to arrive and get information.” Really? They stand around with a bleeding dog who needs urgent medical care and wait God knows how long for someone official to get there? (I know, more sarcasm is just being snotty, but I’m really annoyed.)
I don’t care about being reimbursed for the vet bill. What I want is for this incident to be on the dog’s record. Maybe if someone had reported him last time, if there was a last time, this would be enough for them to require this dog to wear a muzzle outside of the house. Maybe it would be enough to convince the owners not to take him to an off leash dog park anymore. Maybe it would help prevent another dog or a kid from being bitten. The owners were wonderful in their response to the actual fight; it took three of us to get the big dog off of her, and without them Ginger would have been more seriously hurt if not killed. Nonetheless, even though there were two adult owners, neither one made an effort to run after me with contact information while the other held the dog, nor did they leave a phone number for me at the entrance.
The best option I’m left with at this point is an open records request asking for the park permit database to be searched for dogs named Riley and a comma delimited file to be sent to me. My IT friend says it’s not that they can’t get the information, it’s just that they won’t take the time to take the extra step. We’ll see if that’s true. I’m still figuring out where to send the request. It will probably take a long time for them to do it, I’ll probably have to pay for it, and it may not even produce any helpful information. It’s a long shot I’m willing to take because I have no other options. As the TV anchor said in Network, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.”
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Phyllis, you might want to find a way to get in touch with NY writer Rebecca Skloot (sorry, don’t have contact info for her), who wrote eloquently about her dog being attacked by another on the street and what she tried to do about it. The article she wrote won a prize from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Hope Ginger’s doing okay.
Comment by Susan — April 7, 2009 @ 11:23 am
Phyllis, thought I should post a comment since no one else has so far - everyone is probably waiting for a puppy update, holding their breath hoping that the other pups are okay.
This experience must have been so frightening for you - poor Ginger must have been absolutely terrified. I hope she recovers quickly from the puncture wounds AND the trauma.
Bureaucracy bites, doesn’t it? (no pun intended) Hope you’re able to get some common sense changes introduced into this not-very-user-friendly system.
Comment by cerridwen — April 7, 2009 @ 11:26 am
You should be mad, Phyllis.
I would have gotten just as mad or more if my animal was attacked.
So much shrugging off responsibility nowadays makes me want to climb up a wall.
It reminds me of the time that someone hit our car and then dashed off without acknowledging it. However, a dog damaging another and the owners dashing away is horrendous!
The record-keeping people seem to be on the side of the offenders—it is easier for them that way. I applaud you for going a step beyond what is expected.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — April 7, 2009 @ 11:49 am
Susan I just read that article by Rebecca Skloot (found by Googling, its still available on New York Magazine’s Web site.)
Whew, definitely unprepared for that…good essay!
Comment by Sheyna — April 7, 2009 @ 12:06 pm
dog parks should be so great…. but they are not.
Really, the only way to use them is to find compatible owners and dogs and set up private playdates.
Sucks, but this kind of incident is all too common
Comment by EmilyS — April 7, 2009 @ 1:25 pm
Ginger trembled at the vet’s for the first time ever (she goes in every month to have here anal sacs expressed), which was upsetting. Then I took both dogs to the dog park, thinking that if Ginger didn’t want to go in we’d just leave. Much to my surprise, she couldn’t wait to go in, ran around at high speed uncommon to 13-year olds (no one thinks she’s a geriatric). My current plan is not to go on weekends or after 3 when there’s a bigger crowd. Dodger has to have room to really run or there is no living with him. And if Ginger doesn’t want to go, she won’t.
Actually, the owners of the other dog didn’t dash off, I did - I wanted distance between the two dogs and I wanted to get to the vet immediately.
Comment by Phyllis DeGioia — April 7, 2009 @ 2:35 pm
Here is the Rebecca Skloot article - unbelievable.
http://nymag.com/nymetro/urban.....ures/9986/
Comment by Phyllis DeGioia — April 7, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
Wow, Skloot’s article is very scary. The AKC/CFA “Meet the Breeds” event will be happening at the Javits Center in October, which is right there in that neighborhood. (I think the article mentioned an attack by the pack in front of the Javits Center). Anyone have any idea if those dogs are still a running loose?
Comment by Jessie — April 7, 2009 @ 3:15 pm
Sorry for my error, Phyllis—but of course you had to get to the vet immediately.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — April 7, 2009 @ 3:56 pm
Phyllis so happy Ginger is healing. Have you thought about going to the park ALONE on weekends to see if the people show up and then you can talk to them. Or, did you have to obtain a permit to use the dog park. Where I live, people must obtain permits to use a certain dog park. They just can’t walk into any separate one.
Perhaps that could be a way of ascertaining who the owners are. Just a suggestion.
Comment by VJ — April 7, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
The Skloot story is incredible and horrifying.. if the man had assets, of course you could make a civil case against him for damages at least.
It’s mindboggling to read all the authorities asserting that there’s no law that covers this case.. and no one who enforces even the meager laws that might.
Comment by EmilyS — April 7, 2009 @ 4:22 pm
I’m glad it didn’t put Ginger off the dog park,upsetting though about the reaction to the vet visit. Gov’t stinks doesn’t it ? How can they not be able to look up the dog by breed or name ?
Comment by Leslie K — April 7, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Bill in Calgary (win-win program) gave me a great example of why licensing compliance helps responsible people - when the tag money is allocated properly, that is, so the dept is correctly funded.
There was an incident with a dog who rushed out and bit another and the owner when he tried to intervene. Then the dog took off.
Well, the unoffending owner heard someone calling ‘Buddy’ and the black dog booked towards home.
When contacted, all Bill had to do was search the general vicinity for black Lab type mixes named Buddy. He found the owner in seconds, sent somebody over to read the riot act to him (yes, they try to educate and only get militant as a last resort), made him pay the vet bill, etc.
What slays me is that none of these departments have complete datasets, none of them have figured out that there’s more than one way to search the data they do have, yet all you hear about is what they can’t do.
I’d be angry too but that’s my normal setting around these issues :>)
Comment by Selma — April 8, 2009 @ 7:23 am
The day after I heard about Ginger’s horrible experience, the owner of one of the service dogs our dog training group - Kindred Spirits - trained, called me. She had taken her dog, Lucas, to the local dog park for some exercise. He was jumped by two Boxers who really beat him up. Lucas needed veterinary care for a number of puncture wounds. Now Lucas, formerly a calm, steady Golden Retriever who worked extremely well for his owner, is nervous and hyper-reactive around other dogs.
We’re going to have to work hard to help Lucas relax and be able to work calmly again.
Lucas’ owner said during the fight she was on the ground trying to save her dog (she’s a double amputee below the knees) and the owner of the Boxers just froze. Then he left without a word.
I am not a fan of dog parks.
Comment by Liz Palika — April 8, 2009 @ 12:28 pm