Owner responsible for dog behavior

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007: LANSING, Michigan — Three-year-old girl hospitalized after being mauled by the family pet.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007: EVANSVILLE, Indiana — Mother and daughter attacked in their own back yard, by their own dog.

Friday, Jan 12, 2007: SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Ten-year-old girl killed when she tried to help her neighbor's dog.

Monday, January 15, 2007: ST. LOUIS, Missouri — Suburban woman attacked and killed in her home, by the family pet.

I think we have a problem.

In June 2005, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued the following statement after 12-year-old Nicholas Faibish was killed in his home by his family's pit bulls: "If we can't change people's behavior and make them think what's in their best interest, then that's where government comes along and becomes a bit paternalistic."

The question is one of responsibility: Whose is it?

Government's? Is responsibility accomplished, or even encouraged, by breed bans, breed-specific permits, the mandatory spaying and neutering of certain breeds? I'd argue no. It is no more government's responsibility to make your dog behave than it is to make your child behave. And when all the number crunchers and focus groups hand in their results, dangerous-dog legislation proves to be as effective as the War on Drugs, or the War on Poverty, or any of the other myriad wars waged by government in protection of its people.

Well, if not government, then who? Is it the dog's fault? Ban all the mean breeds — you know, the biters! I have news for you, my friends: man's best friend would be extinct in a matter of years. In 2000, a 4-pound Pomeranian killed an infant when the baby's uncle left them in a crib together for a short while. Did he know that could happen? Doubtful. Should he have known? Yes.

Any dog can be turned into a dangerous dog — as in the case of the Pomeranian, who was turned into a dangerous dog when a person created a dangerous situation. Any dog may bite a person, and all breeds bite. Know that.