Laws with teeth

Michael Smith looked like a normal, healthy 12-year-old sitting on his couch, eating a calzone-like pocket of dough for dinner, watching the movie "Good Burger."

His body, though, told a different story.

There's the 3-inch scar on his left upper arm, a constant reminder of a neighbor's pit bull attacking and biting him July 5, 2003, along West Seventh Avenue in Tarentum.

Then there's his deteriorated left hip, whose bone density, doctors have told him, matches that of an 80-year-old -- the result of a bacterial infection that stemmed from the dog bite.

Smith was the first of four children in Tarentum to be attacked by pit bulls in the past 19 months.

Dog attacks -- notably by pit bulls -- have become relatively common, not only in Tarentum but also in the Natrona section of Harrison, West Deer and other towns in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

They have struck fear in residents and municipal officials alike, so much so that Tarentum's council and police are re-evaluating their local ordinances governing animal control.

It is estimated that 5 million people, mostly children, are attacked by dogs every year.

Of those, about 800,000 require medical attention, and between five and 20 die from the attacks.

In March, a 2-year-old girl from Buffalo, N.Y., was fatally mauled in Clarion County while visiting her grandmother, who was sentenced to six days in jail for negligent conduct.

Some might attempt to brush aside the attacks as atypical in the Valley, but Smith's mother, Danice, said that even nonfatal incidents hold severe consequences. She knows her son's story is not pleasant, but it's one that she wants people to know, particularly Abby Deluisio and her parents.

Deluisio, 13, is the most recent victim of a dog attack in Tarentum. Two young pit bulls bit her in front of her house in the 400 block of West Ninth Avenue on Jan. 12.

Deluisio said she suffered 10 puncture wounds to her left arm, which required butterfly stitches to close. But she said she feels fortunate; it could have been worse.

"I want to thank Tarentum Police and the EMS for coming really quick," she said.

Deluisio said that she's feeling fine. She's just a little afraid of big dogs now.

Perhaps Deluisio is lucky. Danice Smith said Michael's road to recovery was hardly easy.

Michael, 10 years old when he was attacked, developed a bacterial infection in his left hip two weeks after being bit and was hospitalized at UPMC St. Margaret for five days. Even after being discharged, Danice said her son was connected to a machine that fed him antibiotics intravenously for six weeks.

He was too ill to walk for weeks, Danice said. Even now, she said, his hip would be susceptible to infection if Michael comes down with a cold.

Danice said that doctors are optimistic Michael's hip bone density will return to a normal level for a boy his age. But they've already discussed the possibility of Michael developing osteoporosis.

Nineteen months after the attack, Michael is back to playing basketball, so long as he doesn't experience pain. But, Danice said, "If he falls the wrong way, he could break (his hip)."

"He still complains about his hip sometimes," Michael's sister, Amber, said.

Michael said he believes he is the same boy he was before the ordeal, but his mother still wonders about residual emotional scars.

Almost four months to the day that Michael Smith was attacked, Marlene Blazczak found herself cradling her Maltese, Mutley, and desperately holding onto a guardrail along Poplar Street in the Curtisville section of West Deer while a pit bull mauled her.

She suffered multiple injuries, including chunks of her leg being chewed off, she said.

A fabric artist who sewed animal beds -- she holds a 1986 patent to a cat house -- Blazczak said, since the attack, she no longer has enough use of her hands to effectively sew. She has had to hire people to perform the tasks she once enjoyed.

Mutley suffered a far worse fate. Blazczak said he developed Cushing's Disease, an ailment in which an animal's body produces too much adrenal hormone, and recently died.

"There should be a law that people cannot have these dogs. They're vicious," Blazczak said. "Once you've been bit by a dog, you just, you're whole idea of pit bulls or other large dogs, you're just so frightened."

Gary Bogan, the code-enforcement and dog-law officer in West Deer, said the pit bull eventually was destroyed. Blazczak said she was the third person to be attacked in West Deer in 2003; Bogan said Blazczak's attack was the only one reported to his office that year. He said he generally responds to three to 12 attacks in the township each year.

Gary Hoffman, who owns Hoffman Kennels in Delmont, serves as the animal-control officer for Tarentum and many other towns in the Valley. He recounted at least two serious pit bull maulings in the Natrona section of Harrison recently in addition to the four in Tarentum.

He said there are many more.

"The dogs are bigger, tougher and meaner," Hoffman said. "Before, the little 'Benji' dog would bite you, and the bite would heal in a few days. He was territorial. Now, you're down at the hospital. They're tougher."

Bruce Ringer, owner of Ringer's Pet Dog Training in Tarentum, said that any dog can attack people, not just pit bulls, rottweilers, Doberman pinschers and German shepherds.

"The No. 1 biting breed is the cocker spaniel," Ringer said. "You never hear about that in the papers."

Ringer said the aforementioned breeds are not inherently disposed to attack people, even if pit bulls, for example, are inherently aggressive animals.

"Pit bulls aren't bad," said Ringer, who has handled more than his share of the breed. "Most of them are very nice.

"It's mostly ownership and how the dog is raised and trained."

Although some residents expressed to Tarentum Councilman Mike Gutonski that they would like to see pit bulls banned from the borough, state law prevents local communities from passing ordinances prohibiting specific breeds of dog.

Bogan said that towns may impose restrictions on other pets. He said that West Deer has enacted restrictions on exotic animals so that residents may not own sheep, swine, poultry, cows or horses as pets.

Gutonski said last week, before he learned about the state dog law, that he hoped council would consider passing an ordinance banning pit bulls.

Gutonski, who is chairman of Tarentum's public safety committee, said he would take it upon himself, if necessary, to hold pet owners responsible for their animals.

"(Residents) are afraid to let their kids out in the yard," he said.

He said he would like to see increased fines for not having dogs or cats properly leashed, licensed or fenced in.

"I'm sure there are a lot of residents in Tarentum who take care of their dogs," Gutonski said. "But you have that amount who don't care."

Gutonski also took issue with the response time from Hoffman Kennels. He said he once called the kennels about two pit bulls loose in his yard and waited 90 minutes before someone arrived.

Tarentum Police Chief Bill Vakulick echoed Gutonski's sentiments, questioning the services that the borough receives from the kennel.

"We need to address what actually Hoffman's is doing and how they do respond to this stuff," Vakulick said. "Can it be changed, or what do we need to do?"

Gutonski and Vakulick said that Hoffman Kennels is supposed to patrol Tarentum, possibly as often as on a daily basis. But they wondered how much time the kennels spend there.

"Nobody knows what we're getting," Vakulick said. "Nobody knows if we're just getting a drive through, or if they're here for four to five hours a day or 10 minutes out of the day. That's why we need to sit down and discuss it."

Gary Hoffman, owner of the kennels, said he or someone from the kennels patrols the area every day; whether they're in Tarentum daily depends on what dogs they're looking for and what calls they have received.

Someone answers the phone at the kennels between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., and then phone messages are checked every 30 to 60 minutes after hours, Hoffman said.

"How can they say the response time was bad on the (Deluisio) case when they didn't call until almost 8 p.m.?" Hoffman said, adding that he arrived on scene about 9 p.m. "You'd like to prevent all this stuff.

"Citing people before this happens is the key. Cite them for (not having) licenses or rabies shots. ... It isn't the dog's fault.

Seemingly everyone from Hoffman to Gutonski agreed that the problem facing Tarentum and other towns is sobering. And it starts, they said, with the negligent owners.

"If we don't take care of it now," Gutonski said, "we're going to have a serious problem later."

Additional Information:

Dog attack tips