Owner has vicious chow-chow put down

Owner has vicious chow-chow put down
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby NOW assistant editor
Published Feb. 9, 2003

An elderly gentleman is feeling a whole lot better about the world this week after the vicious dog that left his pet schnauzer Chelsea with 48 stitches on Jan. 17 was put down.
"The lady who owned the dog came over on Saturday night and apologized. She said she was sorry and told me the dog had been put down," said 79-year-old Dave Simpson.
"I felt sad the dog was put down, but I also asked her if the dog had done this before, and she said yes. I'm sorry for her, and I told her that, but this is not the first time it's happened."
Simpson is the elderly man who was afraid to identify himself in the Feb. 2 edition of the Burnaby NOW as he described the vicious dog attack.
Since the story was published, Simpson has been overwhelmed by the positive response from his neighbours, who offered financial assistance to pay his $935 veterinarian bill, and aid in locating the attacking dog - a 27-kilogram chow-chow/labrador cross.
Almost immediately after the publication of that story, the owner of the dog had the chow-chow put down, and then knocked on Simpson's door to apologize.
As it turns out, the dog's owner, who lives just a few doors away from Simpson, never even knew about the attack until the story was published in the newspaper. That's because the chow-chow was being walked by a friend at the time of the incident.
Simpson was grateful for the prompt response.
"I think she agreed that that kind of dog doesn't belong in a neighbourhood like this where we have children who play on the street," he said.
"With so much crime going on, I understand people are trying to protect themselves.
"But when they take those dogs out for some exercise, that shouldn't come ahead of protecting the elderly, children or people who can't handle a large dog."
Simpson also said that he is concerned by the lax enforcement of animal control bylaws in Burnaby and hopes that city hall will take more action to patrol the city to check for infractions.
"We need to have more (animal control) people out there," he said. "I'd rather have a pothole in my lane and somebody out there protecting people from dogs running around without a leash."
Simpson would like to see a minimum $100 fine for anyone who lets their dog run off-leash, and having the animal destroyed if it is caught off-leash a second time. "That's the only way we can control this sort of thing," he said.
Simpson also said he holds no animosity against the dog's owner, who apparently just moved to Burnaby two years ago from a rural area.