Pitbulls do not belong in a family oriented residential community. I know I am going to open a can of worms with what I have said ... this brings us back to the debate of banning pitbulls as a pet and the pitbull owners standing up for them.

Pitbull breed is known to attack, they were breeded to attack .. its the nature of that breed. The people who own such type of dog need to exercise caution - owning three of these at a time and taking them for a walk together ????? What was this owner thinking ?

This brings up leash laws in general.

I believe that 99% of dogs are great 99% of the time (approx). We should be able to go to leash-required areas such as schools (off hours) and play without any fear of unleashed dogs (yes, the risk is low, but there is still some). However, the Palo Alto schools are used after hours as dog runs. Everyone knows this, but the police fail to enforce the laws. Either enforce the laws or change them. Everyone believes their dogs are safe, but we know not everyone is safe. But I don't want my child (nor any other child) to be the one example.

That is at fault in this situation, but the inability of the woman with 3 dogs to control her dogs adequately.

The pit bull breed standard is that they are bred to be dog aggressive, not human aggressive, and it sounds like these dogs were up to the behavioral standard. That is why a physically strong handler is important, as well as knowing one's physical limits. Walking 3 strong dogs at the same time is difficult for most people.

It is illegal to ban any breed of dog in this state. Blame the deed, not the breed.

Totally agree. The standard for the American Pit Bull Terrier states that some dog aggression will be tolerated, but unprovoked aggression on a human is totally unacceptable, and uncharacteristic of the breed. Considering there are upwards of four to six million pit bulls alive today, and only 0.000002 percent cause any problems, (coincidentally the same percentage of attacks as any other breed)this problem, although overreported by the media, is totally controllable if people would just use common sense with their pets. Don't let them run loose, speuter them for God's sake, and socialize them. If those things weren't too much for the average dog owner to handle, these situations would be nonexistent.

Oh, and another interesting tidbit. The owner of the little dog that was killed was repeatedly told not to come near the woman's dogs, yet for some reason this woman actually came across the street towards the dogs. It seems to me like she either was pretty stupid, or she wanted to prove a point by sacrificing her dog. I am hoping she was just stupid and has learned from her mistake, but who knows what she was thinking? If someone told me not to get near their dog, I think I would probably listen, since they must know it more than I could. And only one of the dogs attacked. The other two just stood there. Such a strange situation.

For whatever reason Yogloo's owner came towards the 3 dogs, she is paying an immeasurable price by the loss of her dog. So is the other dog owner. We don't know why Yogloo's owner insisted on waling up to them, nor do we know why the 3 dogs were walked all at the same time. We all make errors of judgement, and most of the time, the consequences are not nearly so awful.

It is wise that Calif. law PROHIBITS the banning of any breed of dog, and anyway, Diamond was technically incorrect in stating it was a pit bull which killed Yogloo; it was a mixed breed dog. Twisting the facts to suit her purposes is her ongoing m.o.; it makes for poor journalism. We're lucky she isn't a Calif. legislator! And really - she doesn't look like a golden retriever, but it's ironic that she chose that breed to represent herself. My child was bit in the face by one in downtown Los Altos 18 months ago...

Due to repeated violations of our Terms of Use, comments from this poster are automatically removed. Why?