Three days before Christmas, two dogs viciously mauled Shenica White, a 14-year-old Vancouver girl, as she was walking a friend home from a slumber party. If someone hadn't come to her rescue, the mastiff-rottweiler crosses would have killed her. But they did so much damage to her face, she will remain disfigured for the rest of her life.

Shenica has stolen Vancouver's heart. She's apparently a sweet-natured and forgiving kid, who was sad when the dogs were put down after the attack. But she probably wonders why she was unable to walk down a street in her own neighbourhood without being attacked by beasts. This is, after all, civilization.

But as we know, civilization is a weird place. And when it comes to the truly dangerous predators in the concrete jungle, it just keeps getting weirder. Don't take my word for it. Just look at the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

The number of dogs has increased by 2 per cent in the past 10 years, and the incidence of dog bites has increased by 37 per cent;

Five million people are bitten by dogs every year. Of those, 800,000 need medical attention and 20 die;

More than 50 per cent of the victims are children under 18, with boys 5 to 9 being most at risk;

Most dog attacks happen at home, and 77 per cent of biting dogs belong to the victim's family or a friend.

Dog bites are the 12th-highest hazard requiring medical attention, just behind knives and blades -- 334,000 emergency room visits a year, 914 a day.

The more I learn about dog bites, the less I understand the complacency about them and, even less, the vicious dog subculture -- more than half the fatalities from dog attacks are caused by pit bulls and rottweilers. I would prefer not to get into the debate about bad dogs versus bad dog owners (and, yes, I'm aware of the Pomeranian that killed the baby in California), but we have to ask ourselves if we're reasonably assessing the risk that comes with the breed of dog.

Your rottweiler may be a paragon of canine sweetness (some of my best friends were rottweilers). But breeders themselves are worried that some irresponsibly emphasize the killer qualities in the guard-dog breeds. Why? Because savagery sells. After two Presa Canario dogs mauled a San Francisco woman to death in 2001, breeders reported getting calls from troglodytes looking for "one of those dogs that did the attack." And many breeders are worried that the rottweiler breed is already spoiled.

The Animal Advocates Society of B.C. wants Vancouver to adopt a bylaw that would prevent "yard dogs" -- that is, the chaining or neglecting of dogs in a yard. But who will enforce this bylaw? The community safety patrol in Shenica White's neighbourhood reported the dogs that mauled her 17 times before the attack, and nothing happened. In Vancouver, which has a canine population of about 70,000, there are only two SPCA officers.

Others propose the universal spaying or neutering of all dogs, with the exception of those licensed to breed. Of course, that has "gun registry" -- and "folly" -- written all over it.

The most effective solution would be to spay or neuter the owners of vicious dogs. But, for some reason, that practice is frowned on. Meantime, it pays to remember: Dog bites man is still news, and a dog's bite is worse than its bark.
psullivan@globeandmail.ca