A neighbor and I went to court today to testify against another neighbor's dog (German Shepherd). They have had this dog for over a year and he is fully grown and brought him over from Europe last summer. In the beginning they were great at walking the dog, etc. Then came the spring and they installed an invisible fence. Well, he kept going through the fence irritating many neighbors since he would go right after their dogs. I was walking my dog when he came off property after my 15 pound schnauzer. Luckily, my DH was with me and was able to hold the dog back while I quickly picked up my dog. My DH then went up to the house and informed the people that their dog was loose. They never apologized - just said "What can we do?" Apparently this was happening quite often.
Then about a month later, their dog got loose went after another dog that someone was walking about a 1/4 mile down the road. The owner got between his dog and the loose dog and while doing so his own dog bit him. Police called, complaint filed, but no charges were pressed. Then September rolls around (in the meantime the dog has been getting loose terrorizing the neighborhood and no one calls police. They just keep telling the owner to secure her dog) and I go out on the lawn to play with my dog (we are several houses down and across the street from them). While my back is to their property I immediately see my DH running over and in front of my eyes is the shepherd going after my dog. DH scoops up our dog and chases the shepherd home. (DH saw the dog coming off their property and go back the same way.) DH and I debate for about 10 minutes on whether we should call the police or not. I am quite shaken and then begin to think, what would have happened to our dog if DH hadn't been there. The police comes over and we decide that he will just speak to the owners of the dog. After a few minutes he comes back telling us that she denies it was her dog, and while he is speaking to us she traipses over and starts to laugh calling us liars. That her dog was in her backyard playing all the time. The police tell her to leave and we tell the police we are pressing charges.
Four days later the dog gets loose again terrorizing a few ladies out for a walk with their dogs and among them another neighbor walking his doberman. He tries to protect the scared women by trying to chase the dog away and the shepherd then bites him and takes off. This neighbor knows whose dog it is and walks up to their house and tells them what happened and shows that he was bitten. The owner leaves in his truck to retrieve the dog.
So today in court the shepherd's owners plead not guilty to unprovoked biting and not guilty for their dog running loose. They quickly changed their plea to guilty regarding the dog bite and the judge found them guilty of letting the dog run around loose. They kept digging themselves even deeper into trouble by saying that their dog did leave their property for a few seconds, but denies that the dog went after ours even though she did not follow the dog and doesn't know what happened when the dog ran off her property. She then admitted that this wasn't the first time that the dog came off their property.
We were willing to drop the charges before the trial started if they promised to install a proper fence and train the dog. The judge threw this out stating that they had 3 months to fix the invisible fence or install a regular fence,so we proceeded with the trial. In the end the judge noted numerous times that never once did they even try to apologize to us, the victims. The shepherd's owners kept saying that neighbors don't treat neighbors this way. Neighbors should work things out together. The judge noted that their neighbors did try to work it out with them when the first attack happened and today when we were willing to drop the charges if they promised to secure their dog properly. Just before we walked out of the courtroom, the judge again said he would have dropped the charges if they had stood up after his suggestion and aplogized to us.But I guess once an A-hole, always an A-hole.
They got what they deserved. Each had to pay a $300 fine plus court costs. All they cried about was the money.
Then about a month later, their dog got loose went after another dog that someone was walking about a 1/4 mile down the road. The owner got between his dog and the loose dog and while doing so his own dog bit him. Police called, complaint filed, but no charges were pressed. Then September rolls around (in the meantime the dog has been getting loose terrorizing the neighborhood and no one calls police. They just keep telling the owner to secure her dog) and I go out on the lawn to play with my dog (we are several houses down and across the street from them). While my back is to their property I immediately see my DH running over and in front of my eyes is the shepherd going after my dog. DH scoops up our dog and chases the shepherd home. (DH saw the dog coming off their property and go back the same way.) DH and I debate for about 10 minutes on whether we should call the police or not. I am quite shaken and then begin to think, what would have happened to our dog if DH hadn't been there. The police comes over and we decide that he will just speak to the owners of the dog. After a few minutes he comes back telling us that she denies it was her dog, and while he is speaking to us she traipses over and starts to laugh calling us liars. That her dog was in her backyard playing all the time. The police tell her to leave and we tell the police we are pressing charges.
Four days later the dog gets loose again terrorizing a few ladies out for a walk with their dogs and among them another neighbor walking his doberman. He tries to protect the scared women by trying to chase the dog away and the shepherd then bites him and takes off. This neighbor knows whose dog it is and walks up to their house and tells them what happened and shows that he was bitten. The owner leaves in his truck to retrieve the dog.
So today in court the shepherd's owners plead not guilty to unprovoked biting and not guilty for their dog running loose. They quickly changed their plea to guilty regarding the dog bite and the judge found them guilty of letting the dog run around loose. They kept digging themselves even deeper into trouble by saying that their dog did leave their property for a few seconds, but denies that the dog went after ours even though she did not follow the dog and doesn't know what happened when the dog ran off her property. She then admitted that this wasn't the first time that the dog came off their property.
We were willing to drop the charges before the trial started if they promised to install a proper fence and train the dog. The judge threw this out stating that they had 3 months to fix the invisible fence or install a regular fence,so we proceeded with the trial. In the end the judge noted numerous times that never once did they even try to apologize to us, the victims. The shepherd's owners kept saying that neighbors don't treat neighbors this way. Neighbors should work things out together. The judge noted that their neighbors did try to work it out with them when the first attack happened and today when we were willing to drop the charges if they promised to secure their dog properly. Just before we walked out of the courtroom, the judge again said he would have dropped the charges if they had stood up after his suggestion and aplogized to us.But I guess once an A-hole, always an A-hole.
They got what they deserved. Each had to pay a $300 fine plus court costs. All they cried about was the money.