This is what we do: After the horrible death of a child, we vow to change things, to make sure such a thing could never happen again.

Then time passes, and it happens again.

Four years ago, 4-year-old Xavier Strickland was killed by four dogs near his home on Detroit's west side. Last month, 9-year-old Emma Hernandez was killed by three dogs, which have been described as pit bulls in the alley behind her southwest Detroit home.

And while it's easy to focus on Detroit's feral dog population, the dogs that killed both children were pets — or, at least, animals kept by humans. Most of this stuff isn't Detroit-specific. Most Detroiters choose pets for the same reasons as anyone else.

But Detroit also has high rates of poverty, meaning pet owners may not be able to afford care for their animals, and Detroit's Animal Care and Control Department has struggled to make progress.

Detroit updated its animal control ordinance after Strickland's death, and there's a lot of talk about what should happen now.

To reach meaningful solutions, it is important to understand the problem.

The problem

There are a lot of dogs in Detroit. Former Detroit animal control chief Melissa Miller says there may be as many as 140,000 dogs in Detroit. That's based on federal statistics.

Most Detroit dogs don't cause problems.

But Detroit is a city that has struggled to deliver services like police protection to its residents. For a lot of Detroiters, a dog is more than a pet: It's protection.

The majority of reported dog bites are from what Miller calls "known dogs" — in other words, a dog kept by an owner.

Owners looking for protection are more likely to choose a large, aggressive dog. In Detroit, experts say, that's often a pit bull — a large, physically powerful dog with a strong instinct to chase and capture prey.

How an owner approaches that relationship, animal experts say, has a significant impact on safety.

Guard dogs aren't pets. Any dog can bite. And any large dog can injure or kill.

"Any animal that has a sole purpose of protection isn't a pet, it's a weapon," says Matt Pepper, CEO of the Michigan Humane Society. "We have to look at the fact that people do have animals for protection, and that's a bigger issue than animal welfare. That's not a political issue, and it's not a dog issue. It's the fact that we live in a city where people feel like they have to have a dog for protection."

Dogs are most likely to bite kids and old people, or folks with mobility challenges, Miller said — "people who move differently."

And, horrific attacks like the ones that killed Hernandez and Strickland notwithstanding, a dog is most likely to bite a member of the household in which it lives, or a guest in that home, Pepper says.

Dogs need training and consistent normal social interaction.

"The more we remove animals from being pets and part of the human experience, the less they are able to make good choices in our world," Miller says. "If we take an animal and put him on a chain in a backyard, his world becomes an 8-foot radius, and he isn’t given information about what it means to interact with human beings. When you have a family pet, it has had the benefit of living in a home, being around people, not being forgotten about, being taken to vet when sick — it has experienced a lot."

Animals used for protection, or breeding, may not ever get that kind of socialization, Miller says.

Protection and safety aren't mutually exclusive.

A big, loud dog can provide home protection while being a well-socialized member of the family, Miller says. A dog leashed or chained in a yard won't deter a burglar from entering the home.

Solutions

Animal control needs more resources. The city's animal control division has hired nine new officers, Free Press reporter Kat Stafford wrote earlier this month. When those officers complete training, the department will have 19 officers.

"Having more officers out there allows you to have conversations, and not always be in punitive mode — 'Hey ma’am, I was responding to a nuisance issue down the street, I notice your dog is in the back here and there’s no gate, if he slips his collar, he could get out,'" Miller says. "When you have more people, you can be more proactive and more community based."

It also needs coordination. Animal control interacts with departments across city and county government, Miller says, and with utilities as well. Coordination — more eyes on the street — and information sharing could make animal control's job easier.

The solutions can't penalize poverty. About 40% of Detroiters live in poverty. That changes living conditions for pets, too.

Pet owners who live in poverty may struggle to provide care or even food for their pets. Pepper said that in a survey of pet owners who live in poverty, nearly 75% reported having skipped a meal to feed their pets.

"When we start saying everybody has to take care of their animal in this specific way, and it’s going to cost on average $200 to $500 to do it ... that’s an awful lot of resources," Miller says.

And those kinds of mandates can actually be counterproductive, Pepper says: Dog owners who can't afford to comply may just avoid vets.

Incentives work. Animal control policies that incentivize pet care have proved successful in other communities, Miller says: "If your dog is microchipped and spayed and licensed, and you’ve done all the good owner things, maybe we waive that impound fee if the dog has gotten loose, and it’s a free ride home."

Nancy Kaffer is a Free Press columnist. Contact: nkaffer@freepress.com.