NOTHING LIKE WHITE JAWS OF DEATH TO SPOIL A PERFECT DAY.

Byline: MARIEL GARZA

Sunday was the kind of perfect Southern California day that makes everyone in the Midwest hate us as they shiver in below-freezing temperatures.

The skies over Los Angeles were clear and blue, the air warm enough for short sleeves. I lounged on the patio of an artist studio open for a one-day-only holiday shopping extravaganza. Just another idyllic day in paradise - until the White Jaws of Death shattered the calm and the screaming began.

The jaws were attached to a large pit bull that had appeared, like a phantom, on the busy street. Suddenly, it was was ripping into a large but timid fluffy dog a young woman was walking across the street. I don't know how it all started. I just know that I looked over when the woman started screaming with a combination of terror, pain and outrage so moving that I screamed, too.

I have a big dog and have seen dog fights up close. The raised hackles, the bared teeth, the snarling and the nipping.

But I have never witnessed the ferocity like the pit bull unleashed on that fluffy dog. (Though, it was technically leashed, trailing a blue nylon lead that was inexplicable since it was not connected to an owner.)

Even from across the street, the intensity of the attack turned my knees to rubber, set my heart racing and sent a surge of fear through my body that was so primitive I found myself madly scanning the ground for anything I could use to bash the dog, should it come to that.

I don't know what became of the two dogs. The fluffy dog was down on the pavement awaiting care after an onlooker managed to drag the pit bull to its yard up the street. I just wanted to get out of there and to ignore the ugly visions of the pit bull jumping out of the bushes and attacking me and my elderly black Lab.

Pit bull advocates say the breed gets an unfair rap simply because the media hypes the occasional mauling or killing they inflict. They're really quite sweet, really.

Give me a break. There's a reason that dog-fighting rings use pit bulls and not golden retrievers. If a Pomeranian jumps out at you, most people could resolve the issue by punting the pup back over its fence. (Not that I am in any way advocating Pomeranian punting.) If a pit bull wants to take you down, however, down you go.

And pit bulls, like Rottweilers, have earned that bad rep because of the true stories in which they have injured or killed people, often the people with whom they live. Like that 91-year-old woman in Orange County earlier this year whose arms were taken off by her family's pit bull.

It was the death of a 12-year-old San Francisco boy who was mauled by his family's pit bull that finally prompted some legislation to address the growing problems of dog maulings. At the behest of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson, state Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, introduced SB 861, which allows cities and counties to pass laws forcing the neutering of dogs identified as being of dangerous breeds - e.g., Rottweilers and pit bulls.

So far, San Francisco and San Jose will be using the new state law for their own breed-specific neutering laws. But the city of Los Angeles has no plans to adopt any ordinance targeting specific breeds.

``There's nothing in the works, to my knowledge,'' said Officer Dwayne Clark, a spokesman for the city's Animal Services Department. ``We are firm believers that it's not the breed itself but the hands of controllers'' that are responsible.

The city will go after dog owners who allow their pets to roam and attack, be they 100-pound Rottweilers or 2-pound Chihuahuas, he said. People who don't have their dogs neutered must pay $90 more per year for a dog license.

The neutering legislation is pretty weak as a tool to curb dangerous dogs, but considering the opposition, it's a start.

Groups like BAD RAP, the Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls, are fighting the legislation, which becomes state law in January, and circulating a petition to force a voter referendum, according to Speier's office. (I tried calling BAD RAP for comment on this column, but no one answered the organization's phone.)

If opponents are successful in killing this law, it's unlikely anyone will have the guts to come up with harsher legislation, such as requiring owners of potentially dangerous dogs to demonstrate they have the means and strength to control them.

``This kind of legislation is so heated and emotional with the groups opposed that most legislators shy away from this topic,'' said Tracy Fairchild, a spokeswoman for Speier.

That's an understatement in Los Angeles, where city officials have been relentlessly hounded by animal advocates who want the city's shelters to become no-kill shelters.

It's up to us to avoid becoming victims of dangerous dogs. People must report their neighbors who frequently let their big dogs roam - even if the dog is usually so sweet - and especially when they see aggression.

Sure, most pit bulls aren't bad dogs. But occasionally they are, and the last thing any dog owner wants on an afternoon walk is an encounter with the White Jaws of Death.

Mariel Garza

mariel.garza(at)dailynews.com