NEWS

City dog law could take bite out of wallets

Kimball Perry
kperry@enquirer.com
Britt Born of Over-the-Rhine kisses her pit bull, Massy. Cincinnati City Council passed a new dog law Wednesday that isn’t breed specific.

If you own a pit bull, Chihuahua, Basset Hound or any dog that attacks someone in the city of Cincinnati, it could take a bite out of your wallet.

The city adopted a new dog law Wednesday. While it isn't specific to any particular breed – Mayor John Cranley, targeted pit bulls with proposals – council compromised by adopting a law that doesn't criminalize a dog bite but can result in fines up to $15,000.

Not only does the city's new law not target specific breeds of dogs, it doesn't target dogs at all.

"Our objective is to really go after bad owners of dogs," Council Member Kevin Flynn said.

Council effectively agreed earlier this week to a new dog law that wasn't breed-specific. Flynn and Cranley were concerned that a dog owner under the proposed law could have been convicted of a low-level misdemeanor, earning a criminal record.

"I'm not sure," Cranley said Wednesday, "we need to make a criminal case out of a dog bite unless it's a serious case."

If it's that serious, Flynn noted, offending dog owners can be charged under existing Ohio criminal laws.

Instead, Cincinnati's new dog law could cost offending owners big bucks. Cincinnati Police will cite offenders civilly – up to $5,000 for the first offense. Subsequent fines can rise to $15,000. Fines also can be imposed for not having dogs on a leash, letting them run unattended or when they try to bite.

The new law doesn't apply to organized dog fighting, Flynn said. That is criminally prosecuted under state laws.

Council Member Chris Seelbach, who helped write the new law with Flynn, opposed any law that would have been specific to a breed, saying breed-specific legislation "just doesn't work."

The American Bar Association, the national lawyer group, believes breed-specific laws are unconstitutional. Instead, it supports stronger leash laws and licensing as well as laws that hold more owners accountable by imposing higher fines – exactly what the the new Cincinnati law does.

While many Ohio communities ban pit bulls or declare them "vicious," the Cincinnati ban on that breed twice has been revoked. The last time was 2012 after council was told the ban caused some to choose not to live in the city and only a handful of owners registered their pit bulls.

Cranley was bothered that pit bulls aren't being targeted but supported the compromise law. He wants pit bulls to have to wear special collars with police impounding pit bulls without them.

"We didn't go as far as we should have," Cranley said of the new law and then, alluding to the pit bull owners who protested breed-specific legislation, said "To my knowledge, pit bulls aren't protected by the Constitution of the United States. Dogs aren't people."

Council Member Christopher Smitherman said an animal task force will be created, partly to investigate owners who train dogs to be vicious to protect owners' illegal actions like drug activities, human trafficking and gun-related crimes. He believes the compromise law is a great starting point.

"I don't think this is the end," Smitherman said. "This is the beginning of a larger conversation."

Most popular dogs aren't pit bulls

Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes estimates that "about half" of the dogs in the county are registered as required. The most popular dog breeds of the approximately 45,000 registered in Hamilton County:

•Labrador Retriever – 8,360;

•German Shepherd – 3,975;

•Beagle – 3,181;

•Golden Retriever – 2,967;

•Boxer – 2,682.

Source: Hamilton County Auditor