Neighbours at odds over dogs

A dog-on-dog attack on a relatively quiet street in Pierrefonds has left neighbours at odds with each other.

The owners of a female pit bull on Dollard Street have paid the veterinarian bill of their neighbours’ beagle which had some wounds and required stitches last Friday and they have also been fined about $300 under a municipal bylaw for allowing their dog on private property without permission and for biting.

Debbie Smith, who has lived in the area for about nine years, said while the pit bull targeted her family’s beagle last Friday afternoon, the most serious of three incidents dating back to late last year involving the same pit bull, she fears for not only for her dog being killed but wonders if it is safe for her children to play outside.

“I’m afraid for my kids,” Smith said. “There‘s potential for harm, you are never 100 per cent sure since it was aggressive against my dog. I am a wreck when I leave the house.”

A woman who acknowledged being the owner of the female pit bull, one of three dogs in their home, but didn’t want to give her name when contacted by The Chronicle, said the matter is being blown out of proportion. She said she has kids of her own and the dogs have played with other children attending birthday parties in the past. Due to the antagonism developing over their dogs, the woman said her family plans to move out of the Dollard Street home have rented for the past two years.

“We are leaving very soon, there’s nothing else I can do,” she said. “I don’t want to argue with my neighbours.”

She said her dog is muzzled when taken for a walk but the canine made her way outside after nudging a door that was left ajar. “My dog just wanted to go for a walk,” she said, adding her dog is family oriented and friendly with kids. “I’m not contesting (the fines or vet’s bill), my dog got out, but accidents happen.”

The pit bull owner can’t afford at this time to have her dog, which had puppies not long ago, neutered or to be build a new fence around the backyard. She said the pit bull breed has “a bad name” but it is how you raise them that matters. “They don’t growl or do anything to kids,” she said.

Currently, there is a small flimsy fence with cedar hedges around the property, which also has a daycare as a neighbour, Smith said.

“We are not zeroing in on a breed but the responsibilities of the dog owner,” Smith said. “Lock them up so the public is not in danger.”