Saint John, N.B. — Thor, Zeus and Venus, three Rottweilers who killed a little New Brunswick boy earlier this year, probably regarded the child as a toy to be played with, an animal behaviour expert told a coroner's inquest Friday.
Norma Guy, a professor at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown, said most people have seen dogs frolicking with stuffed toys, shaking and ripping at them in harmless play.
She said as difficult as it is to think about and talk about, that is probably how the three Rottweilers regarded four-year-old James Waddell last March 1 when he wandered into his backyard where the dogs had been let loose for an unsupervised run.
"There are elements of play behaviour in what they were doing," Ms. Guy said after testifying at the inquest into the child's death.
"It's horrific to think about it that way. Dogs respond in a certain way to certain situations with varying degrees of excitement and stimulus. While we may impose some sort of moral judgment and think that's terrible . . . a dog doesn't see it that way."
Animal control officers who retrieved the dogs from scene of the killing at the Waddell home on the Kingston Peninsula, not far from Saint John, noted that the animals were playful and friendly.
The dogs owner, Mike Clark, said Thor looked like he just wanted to play, even when he was standing near the boy's body, covered in the child's blood.
"I think the dogs reacted impulsively," Ms. Guy said, trying to explain what could have triggered the attack in which the dogs ripped out the boy's throat, tore off his clothing, and bit him extensively.
The three dogs, plus a fourth Rottweiler who lived in the Waddell home but was not involved in the attack, were destroyed.
Police did not lay charges in the case.
The five-member coroner's jury made four recommendations in its findings on the accidental death, including the establishment of a committee funded by the province to develop and deliver a dog-bite prevention program.
The jury said the committee should be made up of experts in various fields, including police, dog breeders and educators.
The jury did not make any sweeping recommendations such as banning certain breeds.
But it did open the door to having the committee set limits on the number of dogs per household and a stratified licencing system which would set fees based on the purpose of the dog, ranging from house pet to guard dog.
The jury also recommended, in recognition of the little boy at the heart of the tragedy, a James Ronald Waddell pet awareness and education fund to be administered by the committee.
The jury's suggestions will be forwarded to appropriate government departments for consideration. There's no guarantee they will be enacted.
Ms. Guy said that banning certain breeds such as Rottweilers wouldn't solve the problem of dog bites and attacks.
"Banning breeds wouldn't deal with the issue of how owners behave."
She said dog temperament is not closely related to size. She said some large breeds of dogs can be very easy to handle, while certain small breeds can be difficult.
"Size is not the issue," she said. "Every dog can bite."
Ms. Guy said a recent survey of 15 major urban hospitals in Canada found that one per cent of all injuries involving children taken to emergency rooms concern dog bites. She said there are many more cases never treated in hospital.
"Most children are bitten by their own family dog in their homes while the parents are just around the corner in another room," Ms. Guy said.
"You will always have dog bites to children if you are going to have dogs living as intimately with people as they do. The idea here is to recognize that and see if we can do something to reduce the number of incidents."
Ms. Guy, the final witness at the week-long inquest, said her advice to families considering getting a dog is to forget it if they have pre-school children. She said older children are less unpredictable and impulsive than toddlers.
She also said it should be more difficult for people to have dogs.
Ms. Guy recommended increasing licensing fees and having the extra money put into more and better enforcement of dog control bylaws.
"It's not as easy as people think to own a dog," she said. "You want to put up small barriers to make people stop and think."
