'The Writing Was On The Wall': Dog's Unprovoked Bite Of Child Could Have Been Prevented, Say Prior Victim, Neighbors, And Officials

San Francisco CA

15 October, 2021

8:11 PM

Description

By Anlan Cheney, Mission Local October 14, 2021 A city hearing officer ruled earlier this month that a local Australian Shepherd should be designated a "vicious and dangerous dog" after a Sept. 14 hearing determined it displayed aggressive behavior and bit at least two people, most recently an eight-year-old child. This wasn't, however, the first hearing for Pilot the dog. In 2019, Xavier Blake, an adult living at the same Noe Valley building as Pilot, testified that the dog bit him. Despite a subsequent recommendation from the San Francisco Police Department that Pilot be declared vicious and dangerous, a hearing officer ruled there was insufficient evidence for the designation. The bite, the hearing officer said, did not break Blake's skin, and it was merely recommended that Pilot wear a muzzle in public. That, however, appeared not to happen. An unmuzzled Pilot bit the eight-year-old child in June 2021 while the young boy was out walking in Noe Valley with his father, Philip Van Dervort. To read the full article, click here. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.