After high-profile maulings, stricter rules for dangerous dogs could be coming to Toronto

A city council committee endorsed a staff report Tuesday recommendingseveral new measures for responding to severe dog attacks in Toronto, including creating a public registry of dogs who have mauled people or other pets.

The Economic and Community Development Committee voted unanimously to adopt the report and send it to the wider city council for consideration in late March.

The key measures recommended by staff include:

• Creating a publicly available online list, managed by the Municipal Licensing and Standards department and posted via the city's open data portal, of dogs that have received a Dangerous Dog Order (DDO). The list would include the dog's name, breed, basic description, date of the attack leading to the order and the forward sorting area (the first three digits of the area code) where the dog lives.
• That a standardized dangerous dog warning sign that includes the city's official logo be posted on the owner's property. Currently, owners with animals that have been given a DDO only need to post a generic "Beware of Dog" sign that can be purchased at hardware stores.
• That city council allocate up to $500,000 in the 2025 municipal budget for a "robust" dangerous dog education campaign aimed at preventing attacks from happening.

City staff are similarly calling on the province to amend the Dog Owners' Liability Actto ensure cases are heard more promptly and to support municipalities in recovering the costs of sheltering dangerous dogs. The committee heard from staff Tuesday that dogs who have attacked people can sometimes spend months or even years in shelters while their cases make their way through provincial courts.

The Municipal Licensing and Standards department is also exploring the ways to offer discounted or subsidized socialization and obedience training to owners and dogs involved in attacks. Staff said the training, which is mandatory after adog has been given a DDO, is sometimes unaffordable for owners.

Report ordered after mauling last summer

The staff report was ordered by Coun. Paula Fletcher after a constituent in her ward, Cara van der Laan, was badly mauled on July 30, 2023, by two dogsthat were off leash and without muzzles.

Currently, dogs that have a DDO are not allowed off-leash at any time, including at off-leash dog parks, and must be muzzled in public.

WATCH | Toronto grapples with growing number ofdog attacks:

Toronto considers dangerous dog registry

8 months ago

Duration 2:01

Toronto city council is debating new measures as it grapples with a growing number of dog attacks. One of the proposals is a public registry of dogs that have mauled humans or other animals.

Toronto police charged a 51-year-old woman withcriminal negligence causing bodily harm in connection with the attackand both dogs were put down.

Fletcher said Tuesday that the review outlined by staff in the report focused largely on instances of severe mauling.

"There are very few dangerous dogs in the city of Toronto. Most are wonderful, loving familypets. But this very tiny percentage that are, need to bemanaged. And it's also the owners thatneed to be managed," she told CBC Toronto.

Fletcher said an important part of the proposed changes will be enforcement. She noted that the recently passed 2024 city budgetallocatedmore money for bylaw enforcement, including by animal control officers.

"I don't think there is currently enough follow up once a dangerous dog order is given," Fletcher said.

Focus on prevention, avoid punishingdogs: critics

The need for better enforcement was echoed by van der Laan, who spoke at the committee hearing via Zoom. She noted that one of the dogs who attacked herhad already been given a DDO after several earlier biting incidents, including one that sent the victim to hospital, were reported to the city's 311 line.

While the report is filled with good suggestions, van der Laansaid that neither a public registry nor a warning sign would have stopped her attack from happening.

"I think it needs to go further to have that intervention ...lead to more prevention," she said.

Sid Melo, the owner of the K9 Collegiate in Toronto, helps train dogs for a living. He says he doesn't understand why the public registry would feature dangerous dogs instead of the names of their owners.

"At the end of the day, the owner should be accountable for the dog's behaviour," he said, adding many owners don't know enough about how to train and behave around dogs.

"If we're punishing a dog for being a dog, then we shouldn't have dogs."

2,000 active dangerous dog orders

City staff said Tuesday there are about 300,000 dogs in Torontoand roughly 2,000 owners with active DDOs.

Of those orders, approximately 450 were for "severe" incidents and 60 for "very severe" mauling. About 10 of the very severe incidents involved a dog mauling a person, while the rest were dog on dog, staff said.

The orders are given out by a dangerous dog review tribunal, which holds hearings after specific attacks.

Earlier this month, 54-year-oldAnita Brownewas bitten on her face and her arm by two unleashed dogsas she stood waiting for a TTC bus in Etobicoke.

Browne was left with 12 stitches to her face, numerous stitches to her upper right arm, where she says one dog left a hole,and a broken right arm. Police are still looking for the dogs and their owner.

Browne said she's glad the city is consideringchanges to how it handles dangerous dogs, adding she wouldn't want anyone else to go through what she did.

"I think it's a good idea that they're doing that," she said.