While walking her two poodles in her Glendale, Ariz., neighborhood, Sally Andrade endured a horrific experience. An unchained pit bull attacked one of her dogs, clamping it in its vise-like jaws. Efforts to pry the small dog from the pit bull's death grip were futile. When the larger dog finally released the poodle, its owners rushed it to a hospital, but to no avail. The poodle was dead.

The Andrades attempted to file a civil suit against the pit bull's owner but learned that Arizona has no laws that allow a pet owner to recover damages from another animal's owner for damage or injury to pets. Some municipalities do allow for misdemeanor prosecutions against the owner of an unleashed and unlicensed animal. There is no law, however, giving private individuals a civil cause of action against an animal owner for injury or deaths to animals due to dog attacks.

Fabian's Law is an attempt to change this. This proposed law, named after the Andrades' dog that was killed in the attack, provides for civil liability for the owner of any vicious dog that attacks and injures another pet. Vicious is defined as any dog that causes injury or death to a human or another animal. The proposed law allows the owners of the attacked dog to recover for pain and suffering and for three times the value of the pet that was injured or killed. The vicious dog would also have to be microchipped, leashed and muzzled while outside the owner's property. The owner would be required to obtain $300,000 of liability insurance, fence his or her property with a locked fence and post a "dangerous dog" sign. A vicious dog with a second attack on another animal or human would be destroyed.

Sally Andrade and her husband, Richard, fully support this proposed legislation by delivering leaflets to pet service providers and through their Web site, www.fabianslaw.com. The bill should be introduced during the 2011 legislative session.