Nesquehoning woman pleads for dog law
A Nesquehoning woman is hoping her story of loss will help a few dogs in the future.
Last week, Andie Yurchak approached Nesquehoning Borough Council to ask the board to look into creating an animal control ordinance after her beloved pet Yorkshire terrier was attacked and killed by another dog on the streets a few weeks earlier.
“I am assuming most of you have dogs,” she said. “You feed them, play with them, walk them. I walked my dog the other day. When we got to the corner away from my mom’s house, stop sign to stop sign made the whole difference.”
Yurchak said that as she and her 5 pound pup got onto the sidewalk, she noticed a girl holding the leash of a pit bull and her grandmother on a porch. Seconds later, the dog was on her Yorkie and had it by its neck.
“It took three guys to get it off of him,” she told council, choking back tears as she held the bloodied shirt she was wearing during the attack as well as an iPad with her dog’s picture on it. “It snapped his neck and tore his throat open.
“He was just a little guy. He means everything to me, everything to my family. He means something to every dog in this town that it could have happened to. I would never tell someone to get rid of a dog or ban a dog, but I just think something should be done. ... A muzzle would have changed the whole thing.”
The borough does not have a dog ordinance. Yurchak asked council if a dog control ordinance could be implemented to help residents who own dogs.
“There are so many terrible things happening in this world right now, if you can prevent just one, then why not try,” Yurchak said.
Attorney Robert Yurchak, borough solicitor, said that the dog is in quarantine and borough police are investigating and charges may happen for the incident under the state dog law.
He added that the person of the home where the dog came out of said that it wasn’t their dog and the person who was designated as the owner said they had given the dog away.
“I am hoping you could figure out something to do,” Andie Yurchak said. “People walking their dogs each day shouldn’t be afraid.”
Council members sympathized with Yurchak and voiced their concerns.
They voted to authorize the solicitor to look into creating an animal control ordinance.
Comments
Would you tell a parent to get over it if it was their human child child mauled? Certainly NOT!!! So do not do it here!
AND here's ANOTHER NEWS FLASH to ANYONE ELSE that wants to jump in on this and try defending that killer dog and its owners, she is a lot kinder than most people, including myself!!! THAT DAMN DOG SHOULD HAVE BEEN EUTHANIZED BY NOW and the OWNERS FINED/JAILED!!
Finally,I have never, ever met a classy, upstanding person that owns a pitbull, and clearly I never will!! Out here in civilized society, we have ordinances against dangerous breeds, and this right here is why!! You don't like labeling pitbulls, too f@*#*$* bad! Blame it on your fellow pitbull owners who too often tend to be the scum of the earth!!
A study, published this week in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, with researchers questioning 6000 dog owners had some surprising conclusions.
The dog breed most likely to bite was not the Pit Bull, Rottweiler, or German Shepherd, but …wait for it…the Dachshund. And seccond was the Chihuahua, followed by the Jack Russell Terrier.
Known as sausage or weiner dogs, Doxies were originally bred to hunt badgers in their holes. The research, conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, found that one in five Dachshunds have bitten or tried to bite strangers or have attacked other dogs and "one in twelve have snapped at their owners."
One of the researchers, Dr. James Serpell said that smaller breeds might be “more genetically predisposed towards aggressive behavior than larger dogs.”
Previous research into dog aggression has focused primarily on dog bite statistics, but researchers said that these are misleading since most dog bites are not reported. Furthermore, bites from small dogs are less likely to require medical attention and are almost never reported.
Breeds scoring low for aggression included Basset Hounds, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Siberian Huskies and Greyhounds.
The Rottweiler, Pit Bull and Rhodesian Ridgeback scored average or below average marks for hostility towards strangers.
In defense of small dog breeds, many owners may not discourage biting the way owners of larger breeds might. Also small dogs may learn early in life that biting an obnoxious child (or adult) is necessary for their own protection.*
To my understanding since Hitler was an evil man according to your logic all Germans should be euthanized for the good of society. For the record I am much more likely to bite someone than my dog and his temperament is much better than mine. I hope people like you never make it to a town leadership position in the area or we are all condemned to hell.
• Reference : http://thepoodleanddogblog.typepad.com/the_poodle_and_dog_blog/2008/07/a-study-published-this-week-in-the-journal-applied-animal-behaviour-science-with-researchers-questioning-6000-dog-owners.html