The SPCA has a bone to pick with the City of Montreal over a proposal to shorten deadlines for euthanizing dogs that bite.

The animal protection agency has serious misgivings about giving owners of dogs that bite 24 hours to find an expert who can convince municipal authorities that their animal is not dangerous. The current rule gives dog owners 48 hours before the animal must be put down.

But even that deadline is far too short to the liking of Montreal SPCA director Nicholas Gilman who says there's no need to rush to judgment in such cases.  He says the biting dog can be quarantined or made subject to a muzzling order while awaiting evaluation.

Animal behaviourist Gaby Dufresne-Cyr says dogs that bite are likely not dangerous, but merely misunderstood by people who can't read simple signals that dogs give when they don't want to be bothered.

Animal control is a borough matter, therefore the city would have to bring the boroughs to heel before introducing a dogbite rule-change.