By Kyle Ireland

Nanaimo SPCA manager supports province-wide aggressive dog registry

Sep 4, 2016 | 9:35 AM

NANAIMO — Civic politicians will debate the merits of a provincial aggressive dog registry later this month.

It will be on the agenda at the Union of BC Municipalities Convention in Victoria.

The registry which will be brought to the UBCM by the Mayor of Pitt Meadows would focus on the history of the animal, not the breed.

Leon Davis the Branch Manager of the Nanaimo SPCA thinks it’s a good idea.

“What can happen is if you do have an aggressive dog and it’s involved in an incident in the community in which you live, and then that dog is labeled as aggressive by your local animal control and usually then there are lots of restrictions. That person simply in most cases only has to move to another city. Information isn’t necessarily shared. And that dog no longer has these restrictions and something else can happen again,” said Davis.

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He also suggests that there are different factors when it comes to aggressive behaviour in a dog.

“There’s an argument that says it’s never the dog it’s always only the owner. I don’t know if I agree with that completely. There’s a nature aspect to things. There’s massive behavioural variations from dog to dog regardless of the breed which it’s in and just like there are massive behavioural variations in people.”

Through the first eight months of this year, 12 dogs have been designated as vicious by Nanaimo by-law officers.