Does not need to be shown that a dog has a dangerous propensity to attack?

This contention at trial that a dangerous propensity need not be shown was at odds with the way plaintiff pled her cause of action for negligence. She [15 Cal.App.4th 943] alleged that defendants "negligently ... failed to maintain or control a certain large dog, which defendants, and each of them, knew, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have known, would and in fact did, attack and grievously injure persons, including but not limited to the plaintiff, ..." In any event, counsel for plaintiff is mistaken when he implicitly asserts that it is foreseeable that dogs, regardless of their prior characteristics, will react to strangers coming on their owners' property in a dangerous and harmful way. This exaggerated claim, regrettably adopted by the majority, has no basis in law. Apparently the majority labors under the misapprehension that the owners of a peaceful dog are liable in negligence if the animal causes some injury to a person and the owners could have prevented the harm had they confined or controlled the dog. Hence, if the dog runs up to greet the mailman and becomes entangled in the mailman's feet causing him to fall, the dog owners are liable because it is foreseeable that a dog might get under the feet of visitors. By a parity of reasoning, if the dog barks loudly, startling the visitor and causing a fall, the owners are liable once again because it is foreseeable that a dog will bark. This line of reasoning is wholly inconsistent with the Restatement and the previous law in California and ought to be rejected. The majority's mistaken view is "totally at odds with the present standards which strike a reasonable balance between the lawful enjoyment of pets by their owners and the personal security of others." (Nava v. McMillan, supra, 123 Cal.App.3d at p. 268, 176 Cal.Rptr. 473.)