Most dog attacks like this are ultimately the dog owner's fault, not the dog's. You can't expect a 2 year old child to know right from wrong unless it's been taught. Same with a dog. Dog's that don't have proper training and leadership from an owner will revert to a wilder pack mentality.

I've actually been considering getting signs for our house even though our dogs aren't outside dogs. They're great security deterrents. Imagine someone coming up to my house (we always have the blinds drawn when we're not home) and then knocking or ringing the doorbell, seeing the sign, and suddenly it sounds like the hounds of hell are loose inside. It doesn't matter that if they got in they would find 3 crated dogs, a 16 year old Doxie/Corgi mix, and a bulldog who would slobber on you, but if Harley was to stick his head in the widow and part the blinds -- it'd put the fear of God (or fear of Dog, depending on how you look at it *LOL*) into them.

The problem when you have dogs that do attack, you've got an owner who doesn't have a lick of sense and no responsibility whatsoever towards the dogs. They see having that many dogs usually as some sort of subliminal virility sign. (Or else you have a "rescuer" who's totally ignorant of dog behavior and is a wimp and not training them.)

Dogs, especially multiple dogs, will pack. It's their nature. Humans MUST remain dominant over their dogs (and this does not mean beating them!( or else they will not see the human(s) as alpha to them. I stress this over and over again to people. People love their dogs like kids, and that's fine. The problem is that dogs do not see themselves as furry 4-footed kids, no matter how much you love them and how human they act. They see US as 2-footed dogs. And anyone who fails to remember that is setting themselves (and the dog) up for trouble.

Not to place blame on the victim either, because I wasn't there and didn't see it, but if she was jogging past the place, there were probably cues from the dogs that if she had stopped jogging and walked past, there's a good chance they wouldn't have chased her, or she could have gotten past the situation unharmed. Dogs see erratic movement as prey, and with their lack of training and leadership, the combination was irresistible. More people need to be made aware of how to act around dogs to prevent tragedies like this. I know I had dogs that would chase other kennel workers out of their run, but I could walk in there and handle them, albeit very cautiously. You have to be able to look through their eyes and know body cues and language.

Once again, this tragedy, just like the one in San Francisco a few weeks ago, rests squarely on the back of the owner. It's the rare dog that's born "bad." The rest are made that way by training (or lack of training) and improper ownership. That's why I'm squarely against breed bans of any kind. If you ban APTs or Rotties or Wolf hybrids, the drug dealers will start using GSD's. You ban GSD's they'll start using cattle dog hybrids. You ban those it'll be something else. You won't stop the bad owners from being bad owners unless courts start impounding dogs from repeat offenders and refusing to let them ever own dogs again.

Equate it to guns. A gun can't hurt you just sitting on the table unloaded. But loaded and in the wrong hands, it's deadly. Same with a dog.

Lesli Richardson is a store manager, wife, mother, and freelance writer. Her entire family is actively involved in puppy raising for New Horizons Service Dogs. She is also the publisher and editor of e-Fido.net, a quality e-Zine for dog owners.