WARREN Ordinance to put the bite on vicious dogs let loose

The ordinance would make it illegal to train a dog to fight.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The 7th Ward city councilwoman hopes to introduce an ordinance concerning vicious dogs at the April 26 council meeting.
Susan E. Hartman, D-7th, said she will bring it before council's police and fire committee, of which she is chairwoman.
"This will go on the fast track," she told her colleagues, adding that she hopes it can take effect and be enforced by June 1.
"Summer is coming. More dogs are out," she said.
The proposed ordinance would allow police or an animal control warden to declare vicious any dog that menaces or bites any person without provocation. Any dog designated as vicious would have to be properly contained in a roofed enclosure or on a heavy leash, she said.
The ordinance would require at least $100,000 of insurance for any dog declared as vicious and sets forth an appeal process for the owner of any dog so declared. Dog owners would have five days to appeal the declaration before a panel, which Hartman said would likely be the city health board.
The ordinance would also make it illegal to train a dog to fight. Violators of the ordinance would face fourth-degree misdemeanor penalties.
Reason behind this
Saying her constituents have requested a vicious-dog ordinance, Hartman said she knows of two people who have been seriously hurt when bitten by dogs in the city in the past two months.
Hartman, who said she was painfully bitten on her leg, but not seriously hurt, by a neighbor's small dog last summer, said the ordinance is now being drafted by the city law department.
The ordinance would allow individual dogs to be declared vicious based on their behavior, but it would not categorize specific breeds as vicious, she said.
"You have the right to have your dog, but the people in the neighborhoods have the right to enjoy their neighborhood and their properties without the threat of being attacked by a dog," Hartman concluded.
milliken@vindy.com