The Austin City Council may have saved the life of a dangerous dog last week, but critics worry the council will continue to get distracted by dangerous dog cases moving forward.

Not so, said city officials.

“We’ve only ever spared one other dog since I’ve been here,” Mayor Tom Stiehm said.

Dangerous dog cases like Roc, the 4-year-old pitbull spared by the council on Aug. 17, are relatively rare in Austin. In fact, they more likely than not result in the dog’s destruction.

Only six people have appealed a dangerous dog designation since 2010. Four people appealed to the city council in 2012, one in 2014 and Roc’s case this year. Of those, the council spared dogs from euthanization only in Roc’s case and the case in 2014.

The Austin City Council declared Roc a dangerous dog on July 21 and finalized its findings to euthanize him on Aug. 3.

Roc has allegedly attacked or threatened residents in northwest Austin four times since 2013. He reportedly jumped on a man walking near the 600 block of Sixth Avenue on July 1 and tried to bite him, according to police reports.

The man only suffered a slight scratch on his face, however. Yet the dog never bit anyone during his encounters.

That was the key reason behind Roc’s rescue, according to city officials and Ruff Start Rescue, the organization that will take Roc to a foster home in Central Minnesota.

Though the council only deals with about one or two dangerous dog cases a year, the majority of those cases deal with canines who have bitten other dogs or, in some cases, humans.

Those dogs are almost automatically put down, and even rescues would have a difficult time taking them.

Yet one good thing has come from Roc’s case: the city’s connection with Ruff Start Rescue.

“Now we have another option if another case like this ever comes up,” Stiehm said.