News-Record.com

As the News & Record reported Monday, two dogs attacked a 79-year-old woman outside her home Sunday, sending her to the hospital with serious injuries.

A neighbor distracted the Rottweiler and pit bull until police arrived and shot both dogs, killing one.

The woman, who had come out to pick up her newspaper, could very well have been killed.

A jogger recently lost his life when he ran into traffic to avoid an attacking dog.

The bottom line remains more irresponsible dog owners more than the animals themselves. These owners frequently ignore city leash laws, and somehow expect passersby to venture along public streets or even on the their own property, at the risk of life and limb.

Another problem: People who have encountered dangerous, unleashed dogs and have not turned in the miscreant owners.

I have been threatened at least four times by unfettered dogs while jogging. One of them was a pit bull. For what it was worth, I swung at the dog with my Walkman and cussed under my breath, but I reported no one.

In another case, I confronted the owner, reminding him of the city's leash laws after his dog had attacked me for the second time. He smiled.