[shane_c]

I think who is at fault really depends on the situation. Sure there are dogs out there who are nasty and aggressive for one reason or another. There are also dogs out there who, despite it being totally out of character, will snap when approached in what they deem to be a threatening manner. Parents should teach their children the proper way to approach an animal. How would you like it if a total stranger came up to you and pulled your hair or grabbed hold of your face or ear? Would you push them off you or hit them?

Something we noticed when we lived in Calgary was that the dogs there seemed a lot more stressed out. Maybe it's the constant hum of a big city or the small yards but whatever it is we've noticed a huge difference compared to the general demeanor of the dogs back east. Sure there are nasty ones here too but we've had far fewer negative run ins than we did in Calgary.

When we did live there our puppy and my partner were both attacked by an off leash german shepherd. This was a huge beef of ours how people just let their dogs off leash when walking around the subdivision or at any green space no matter the size, or would leave their front doors wide open in the summer and we'd be walking by and a dog would come bolting out of the house after us. And anytime I would tell the owner to leash their dog I would be told to F*** off.

To make things worse dealing with the by-law officials was a waste of time. After they were attacked we were told that the attacking dogs owner technically does not have to pay our vet bills (thankfully they did for fear of being sued and it was over $2000). We were also told by the by-law officer that "they don't want to charge the other person with too many offenses (even though they were guilty of them) because if they dispute anything then it would have to go to court". In the end I believe she was only charged with having a dog off leash and nothing for the attack on our puppy or my partner.