Judgement in Dog Attack Hearing

[Betsy Voinovich]

This morning, the mastiff that attacked a pomeranian's case was addressed in Lakewood Court. The dog's owner has given the dog to a friend outside of the city of Lakewood, the dog will not live here. The dog will not be put down, and the charges against the dog but not the dog owner were dropped.

That will possibly be handled out of court as well.

More to come.

Betsy Voinovich

[Grace O'Malley]

Hmm. I wonder if they would have been so lenient if the dog had been a pit bull?

[Jim O'Bryan]

Hmm. I wonder if they would have been so lenient if the dog had been a pit bull?

Grace

To the city's credit. They did allow Missy at ADH to take in pitbulls without problems.

Also it was odd as the "owner" of the mastiff was not at the hearing. Instead the principles
stayed home and negotiated through the courts. Who did show up, was an advocate for
not putting the dog down, which I thought was odd, because I had been told many times
there is a 3 bite rule for dogs in Lakewood, not one bite rule. But she was told the 3-bite rule
did not apply to this??????? (selective enforcement yet again)

The previous owner of the dog was there on the dog's behalf. To explain how she got the
dog, what a great dog it was, and why she gave it up. The woman was unbelievable in the
hallway as we spoke, as was the advocate.

Also it is interesting had it been a legal pitbull, there would have been a huge amount of
insurance for incidents like this. I for one do not see a problem with a dog owner, any
dog owner getting extra insurance just in case.

.

[Peter Grossetti]

" ...charges against the dog but not the dog owner were dropped."

Serious?!??! A dog can be charged with violating a law???

What next ...
... a car when its driver gets a moving vilation ticket?!??
... a handgun when its trigger puller shots someone?!?
... a pen when a check writer knowingly passes a bad check?!!?
... a (well, you get it)

[Jim O'Bryan]

" ...charges against the dog but not the dog owner were dropped."

Serious?!??! A dog can be charged with violating a law???

What next ...
... a car when its driver gets a moving vilation ticket?!??
... a handgun when its trigger puller shots someone?!?
... a pen when a check writer knowingly passes a bad check?!!?
... a (well, you get it)

Peter

Betsy was reporting the news through me. I was at the hearing, and at the end of the day
the two dog owners are hopefully going to straighten things out. Not to seem shallow, there
were damages, and something will need to be arranged.

The owner of the dog was not cleared of any wrongdoing, I believe as of now it is still under
investigation. This is often used in something like this to make sure damages are taken care of and restitution
is made that satisfies both parties. Nothing unusual.

Now the charging of the dog, and one of the really big news items of the day, THE DOG WAS NOT CHARGED.
Read on, it has always been my understanding and the understanding of many dog owners,
veterinarians, police, lawyers, that there is a 3 bite law in Lakewood. The third bite and the
dog gets put down. While this seems lax, it is wild how fast little things can add up.

My first mastiff pushed a child over, the child skinned its knee and mom took him to the
hospital to be checked out, and the police visited us. While he did not bite the child, the dog was noted
as the cause of the accident and received 1 strike/charge. 6 years later my dog was choking on a bone it had swallowed. Deb reached down his throat to her elbow, grabbed it and got it
out. However the dog had gagged and broken skin above Deb's elbow. It got infected so
I took her to the hospital and mentioned the dog bite. The next day the animal control
officer was at our door looking to fill out the report to see if there were any other bites
from him. I asked about the law, she assured me, no ifs and or buts about it, this would
be a second charge. No court, just another mark against the dog.

Gaston never nipped or was aggressive towards any dog or person. But he was never off
his leash outside of the yard.

Today, Michael Bowen mentioned that there was no longer a three bite rule, and a dog
could be labeled dangerous or a menace with one aggressive act.

Today, we were there for the fate of the dog, and the preliminary hearing. For now it is
in the hands of the people that owned the dogs.

.