Poor little doggies. I think that if you're gonna be attacked by an aggressive animal you should be able to protect your pet as well as yourself. Unfortionately that is getting harder and harder to do with the roaming of uncontrolled animals increasing. If you're gonna arm yourself with a 800,000 volt stun baton or a Smith and Wesson M&P.45 ACP, then more power to you. Don't let your pet or yourself become victim to an animal that some owner cannot control or keep in the yard. Unfortionatly these animals are acting instinctively and most of the time are friendly and probably is someones little baby or princess or punky butt. I would be very hurt if an uncontrolled animal would hurt or maul my little 12 lb. mini schnauzer that is more like a child to me than a pet like most of us with animals these days. If you can't control your animal and do not want your animal, at least put a little effort in trying to find a good home for your pet. Don't just let it roam and hope someone will fall in love with it and adopt it, because the majority of the time that's not gonna happen. The animal will probably end up injuring someone or someone's pet and then will end up behind links cells at the animal control center for termination. Every animal is a great animal if properly placed. Please don't let that happen to a puppy that you thought was too cute that you had to have then let it run ragged. Be responsible and take care of the animal and the community. 

Yesterday at the entrance to the crossstown freeway traffic came to a halt as a pit mix wth a collar wandered onto the highway.  It finally wandered off the highway down into the landscaped area and I hope that dog made it home safely.

I guess people don't envision what a car does to a dog.  I guess they don't think about their dog lying on a roadway suffereing until enough cars run over it that it dies.  Or worse yet, lies on the side of the road and suffers for what could be hours before it dies.

A dog the size of the one I saw yesterday not only puts itself at risk but also the driver of the car that hits it as will as any other cars nearby that might become involved in the accident.  Biting only affects the dogs prone to do that.  Roadkill affects little Fluffy the poodle, Little Pepe the chihuahua, and Barney the boxer.

As for the biters, yup, give me a stun gun..I think it's a wonderful idea.  If I'm out walking my GGrandkids or my dogs I don't want to have to worry about strays.

Steve:

I don't know what the answer is, but i need one of those stun batons for when I go jogging. Where do you get those?

I'm not how I'll feel about an entire city becoming armed with stun batons as a result of my story, but I certainly can't fault pet walkers and joggers who need protection from the dogs of irresponsible dog owners.

Ms. McCabe, the woman featured in my story, bought hers for about $39 from stungunscheaper.com

Also a note to online readers: Sunday's print version includes a TBC graphic that is not available online. It includes the top-14 dog breeds in Kern, listed by frequency of reported bites ... and other info as well.

"the breed that bites most often is the pit bull"

It may be more fair to say that among reported bites, the breed that bites most often is the pit bull.

People can and do sue other people for injuries when their dog bites. Homeowner's insurance policies are frequently sued for dog bite injuries, which is one reason some insurance companies place limitations on covering bites from certain breeds.

Breed bans will do nothing to change the number of dog bites, which I believe was pretty much stated in an accompanying opinion piece: "A few cities and counties across the U.S. have banned or severely restricted pit bulls. In almost every case, another breed of dog has turned up as the favored species among those who prefer aggressive dogs, and dog-bite numbers have been affected little, if at all."

Spaying and neutering is the obvious first step, since records of dog bites overwhelmingly show that unneutered dogs make up the majority of reported bites. And yes, owners should pony up, big-time, if their dog bites and causes harm to another person or animal.

The other ideas on your list require exactly one thing to make them work: A better-staffed animal control department. As your article demonstrated, the population of Bakersfield has increased significantly while the number of animal control officers has decreased at nearly the same rate. If people truly want something done they need to express their feelings to the Board of Supervisors and the Animal Control Commission and be willing to pay for it, as a community. If every household were to pay an increase of $5 on their property taxes that went to animal control for low-cost spay/neuter and increased enforcement we might actually see a difference, but continuing to grossly underfund this department will only result in more stories like this being published.

One last thing, in defense of pitties. Take the test --- Can You Spot the Pit Bull? 

I think it is obvious as to why Pits are the number 1 aggressive dog.  The owners of these dogs are using these dogs as a macho status symbol and training them to be aggressive and even teaching them to fight.  Watch Animal Planet's Animal Cops.  The dogs are chained up with HUGE chains to make them stronger.  They are put against each other in fight training.  The females are used over and over again for breeding and are being neglected.  It is a sad situation.  There are counties, especiallyy in Florida, that have a ban on Pits.  I am all for a ban in Kern County.  Teens and gang members are the majority owners of Pits.  Not all of them are guilty of misuse and abuse but, the resources are also not there to take care of the animal properly.  As for running the streets, they most likely don't have the proper fence.  I blame the owners for the Pits behavior.

German Shepards are naturally aggressive.  I have owned several in my time but, it was a challenge because of their instinct to protect.  They are a great breed but they do need lots of training and discipline.

I don't think Animal Control is the answer.  What are they going to do, chase the animals all over Bakersfield.  Dog owners need to be responsible.

 OK, idea people. What do we do about this epidemic of dog bites? Some cities have tried to ban specific breeds. Is that an option? What about mandatory spay and neuter laws? Helpful?

Hefty fines for people who let their dogs run wild? Other thoughts?

I have to admit that I was never a big supporter on ban specific breeds because it is unfair to responsible pet owners that have ban specific breeds.  Lack of accountability and responsible pet ownership is a black eye in Kern County.  Suppose we go ahead with banning specific breeds, instituting mandatory spay/neuter laws, and introduce fines for people who let their dogs run out wild.  Who is going to enforce all that?  The biggest underlying problem is the lack of Animal Control enforcement. 

We are working on the wrong side of the system if we don't have funding and staffing available for Animal Control.  Trying to implement heavy fines and restrictions on specific breeds is worthless without any type of enforcement.

Banning pits does nothing to address the problematic people creating the problematic dogs. If you ban pits, they'll just move on to a dozen other breeeds just as capable of being aggressive and a danger to society. What we need is to un-neuter Animal Control. While Animal Control does little to nothing to enforce existing ordinances against dog fighting and animal cruelty, people will feel free to get away with treating dogs however they want.