There is no denying the pain 5-year-old Josephine Shadick and 85-year-old Eileen Smiskey have gone through recently. Both were the victims of pit bull attacks in Eau Claire.

Shadick was attacked July 28 in a house in the town of Washington. A male adult pit bull that was kept at the house lunged at her face and didn’t let go.

Eileen Smiskey was on a walk late in September when her next-door neighbor’s pit bull attacked her. She was pushed to the ground and bitten.

In response to the recent attacks, Eau Claire City Council member Dallas Neville has asked city officials to write an ordinance banning pit bulls in the city of Eau Claire.

In light of the two recent attacks, the City Council is taking a step in the right direction by looking at problems associated with pit bulls.

However, an outright ban of the breed has numerous problems, is unlikely to solve anything and probably won’t change the behavior of owners with problematic dogs.

One of the first problems with an outright ban on pit bulls is simply defining what a pit bull is. The term is often used to describe three distinct breeds of dogs: The American Pit Bull Terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. In addition, many dogs are mixed breeds, which sometimes include a “pit bull”-type breed. Additionally, the typical features of a pit bull – a stout body, strong square jaws and small, slightly floppy ears could be attributes of many dogs. It sometimes can be difficult to identify exactly what breed dogs with these features are.

Judging a book by its cover often isn’t fair. While the Staffordshire Bull Terrier looks like the stereotypical brutish pit bull, according to the American Kennel Club, “its affection for its friends, and children in particular, its off-duty quietness and trustworthy stability, makes it a foremost all-purpose dog.”

A ban on the dogs also ignores what many canine experts say about the breed. As a Leader-Telegram intern this summer, I wrote a story that coincided with the attack on Josephine. I was surprised to hear from an Eau Claire veterinarian that most of the pits he dealt with at his office were “sweet as peaches.” He said there were many other breeds he treats more cautiously in his office, and typically pit bulls will lunge only at other dogs.

In July 2005, the Associated Press reported findings from The American Temperament Testing Society. The organization looked at 122 dog breeds. It found the American Staffordshire Terrier, a type of pit bull, passed 83.3 percent of the time, just behind the golden retriever, which passed 83.6 percent of the time.

While pit bulls often can inflict the greatest amount of harm on a person, it should be remembered that many breeds have injured and killed people – including everything from the beloved labrador retriever to tiny toy-breeds.

In the wake of pit bull bans across the country, we have heard numerous stories of pit bulls that have made wonderful, loving family pets. To destroy good-tempered pit bulls, or to force their owners to move out of the city, would somewhat throw the baby out with the bathwater.

What does make a difference in determining the behavior and actions of pit bulls, or any dog, are the actions and behaviors of a dog’s owner. Owners have a responsibility to be aware of their dog’s temperament. For owners of bully breeds, like pit bulls, this means keeping the animal on a leash, supervising its interactions with others and going through a complete training program with the dog.

Unfortunately, the owners of the pit bulls involved in these unfortunate accidents didn’t seem to take some of these precautions. It’s likely that problematic dogs are those that would be harbored illegally by people unwilling to work with them.

So what should the City Council do? Be proactive.

Pit bulls are becoming more and more prevalent in the Chippewa Valley, as a quick visit to many local shelters will demonstrate. The Council should require owners of pit bulls to spay or neuter their dogs to prevent ever-growing, out-of-control populations.

Additionally, the Council should require owners of pit bulls to keep their dogs on leashes or in some way restrained. It could even require muzzles.

It could require liability insurance on the dogs, or micro-managing to ensure owners are accountable.

The above options may not be ideal, but at least they’re a step toward a middle ground, where citizens and their animals will be safe. Let’s stop and review all our options before taking the drastic step of a ban.

MacLaughlin is a senior print journalism major and editorial editor of The Spectator. Mac Mouths Off is a weekly column that appears every Thursday.