Note from Xiuhcoatl: Here's an article that happened in my neighborhood. Cops just seem to love shooting dogs. They should make a sport out of it. It seems that everytime they're going to somebody's house and the person has a dog they kill it. If they shoot my dogs I'm taking their asses to court!
Crime too high for dogs as pets
South Modestans want homes guarded, not companionship
By INGA MILLER BEE STAFF WRITER Last Updated: January 5, 2007, 04:48:07 AM PST http://www.modbee.com/local/story/13168482p-13812173c.html
In the south Modesto neighborhood where a pit bull mauled a 3-year-old girl Sunday, residents said sometimes the decision to get a dog is less about loving pets and more about safety.
The Sheriff's Department recorded 23 residential burglaries and 16 stolen vehicles last year in the neighborhood bounded by Highway 99, Main Street, East Hatch Road and Crows Landing Road. Eight other vehicles had items reported stolen from them.
"I don't like dogs, period. But on account of a lot of bad things that have happened as far as burglaries, I'm thinking about it," said Ken Jenkins, 53, whose cars were recently dented and scratched by vandals. "People snoop around, and you really have to watch your stuff. I'm looking for a German shepherd, maybe an ex-police dog with a really mean look."
The pit bull that attacked Sunday was chained to a fence outside a home on Rio Grande Avenue when the 3-year-old approached the dog and started to pet it, according to witnesses. The dog bit her on the arm and head and shook her, witnesses said.
She was in stable condition as of Monday night, said Deputy Royjindar Singh, spokesman for the Stanislaus Sheriff's Department. He didn't have her status Thursday. Neighbor Anna Jimenez said the girl had returned home.
Carmen Sandoval said she got the first of her two dogs when she and her husband moved in a half a block away nine years ago. They keep the fierce-looking mixes behind a chain-link fence.
"We have our dogs because there are a lot of break-ins, and most people on the street want dogs for that reason," Sandoval, 34, said. "It's more about safety."
Five burglaries were reported on three blocks of Rio Grande Avenue last year.
The pit bull that attacked was known in the neighborhood as a friendly dog. It lived at a house with a swing set used by neighborhood children. The 3-year-old had been playing on the swing set when she went to pet the dog. It grabbed her arm and pulled her to the ground and bit her on the head, according to witnesses.
A deputy shot the dog after it charged him following the attack. The girl's family and the dog's owner, Daniel Arias, didn't appear to be home Thursday.
Worry over not-so-friendly dogs
Singh said authorities decided not to charge Arias because he reported never having problems with the dog before, and neighbors described the dog as friendly.
Other dogs in the neighborhood don't look so benign. They peer from behind chain-link fences, lounge in unenclosed driveways and even run in packs along Rio Grande Avenue.
"I don't like the dogs at all anymore," said Jimenez, 37, as two yellow dogs and a German shepherd stood nearby. "They bark and growl at me. It does worry me."
The two yellow ones attacked a neighbor and a street vendor, Sandoval said.
She always checks the street before letting her sons, ages 2 and 4, play on the front lawn.
They run to the window to spot the loose dogs — including a black and white pit bull that has taken to running the length of Rio Grande Avenue between Crows Landing Road and Santa Fe Avenue.
"When they're out, I won't let my kids outside," she said. "I've called animal control twice in the last year, and they come over, but it seems like they just look at them and then leave."
South Modesto is "a problem area," said Mike McFarland, director of animal services for Stanislaus County. "There is no doubt about it."
He said the department is addressing the issue and estimated an officer visits the area almost daily, often to issue a citation or impound an animal. Neighborhood characteristics including low fences and missing gates make the area one of the county's biggest spots for stray dogs. Others include Keyes, Grayson and Modesto's airport neighborhood, he said.
"I was an officer in 1973, and it was a problem area then," McFarland said. "And it continues to be a problem area, although it's certainly less so now."
The department doesn't regularly break down figures on bites by breed, McFarland said, taking the position that all dogs can be dangerous. He acknowledged that south Modesto might have more dogs meant for protection than for companionship.
"There is a tendency for that," he said. "But if it's a guard dog, unless it's on your property, it's not protecting your property."
Bee staff writer Inga Miller can be reached at 599-8760 or
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