How to Get Vicious Dog Charge Dropped

[Garyl]

What is the name of your state? Arizona

I am the owner of 2 large and very friendly adult Great Danes and have been unfairly charged with Dog at Large/Vicious Dog - both written as class 1 criminal charges by the local animal control officer. Neither myself nor my dogs have ever been in any kind of trouble before. My arraignment was yesterday and I am facing a $2,500 fine plus 6 months jail time. I feel completely victimized by the City Police Department and need to prove that this is an unfair charge so it can be dropped. Here is what happened:

On 08-14-07, I was mowing my front lawn and both of my dogs were with me. They are well behaved and have ALWAYS stayed in the yard when I let them out with me (they typically stay in the back fenced portion of the yard). One of my neighbors and my girlfriend both had clear view of the dogs for the entire 20 minute period we were outside. Upon finishing, I put both dogs in the house and proceded to the shower. During that time the City Animal Control Officer and 2 police officers came to my door and told my girlfriend that my dogs had "torn up" a dog in a low income apartment complex about 90 feet from my home. My girlfriend immediately came to get me out of the shower, but the officers did not want to wait and said they would return in approximately 5 minutes as I had requested. I personally believe that it was at that time they first went to the accusors residence to view the dog in question. All three officers returned to my home 15 minutes later. The Animal Control Officer then proceded to ticket me for the above mentioned charges. I insisted upon my innocence and pleaded with him to interview both my neighbor and my girlfriend, but he refused. He said my dogs matched the accusors description and that was all that was necessary. I refused to sign the citation and he insisted that I must. The Police Officers said it did not imply guilt on my part and that I could dispute the charges later. I DID NOT KNOW how serious this was.

I finally received a copy of the Police Report a few days ago and have learned that there were no witnesses to this dog attack and that it was not a serious injury at all. Apparently there were 2 puncture marks and a scrape on the back of this small dog. The owner refused any vet care and the Animal Control Officer noted in his report that the injuries were "not as serious as first thought". The Animal Control Officer interviewed a mail carrier and the apartment manager at the victims residence. Both said they saw are dogs "at large" and "loose". Both witnesses were over 90 feet away and around a corner. It would be easy to think our dogs were loose from that angle as our small front yard slopes right into the street - there are no sidewalks to separate it. The Officer also noted that I willingly signed the citation.

My question is how can I be charged in such a serious case without so much as my own witnesses being interviewed. I truly believe that this Officer "has it in for me" and has fixed it so I have to spend thousands of dollars in Attorney Fees that I can not afford. I am going to sell my home to get away from the city, but until then I must deal with this.

Can you see anything in my story that may indicate improper police procedures on their part. It seems to me that I should not have been accused like that before the Officer even LOOKED at the victim's dog. Also, shouldn't he have taken statements from my girlfriend and neighbor? All 3 of us could clearly see the dogs and neither myself or my girlfriend can remember longer than 2 or 3 mintues that they were not in our site. We think it is possible that if this incident did occur then it would have happened in the driveway because that area was blocked from view by my truck and we all saw both dogs laying under a tree very near to there. It is possible that the small dog may have been off the leash and possibly startled our dogs when it came by. Perhaps it showed some sign of aggression - I don't know, but my 140 pound danes could have easily killed it if they were at all vicious. None of us noticed anyone nearby. Dogs run loose in this neighborhood all the time.

I know this - my dogs are not agressive at all and I have 2 vets willing to write letters to such. These are house dogs and I love them like children. They have grown up around cats and have been exposed to large and small dogs on many occasions. The neighborhood children used to come over and play with them, but I had to stop it because my dogs were so excited that they jumped around and I was afraid one of them would get hurt. They sleep with my girlfriend's cat and play with her mother's pug dogs. I feel I am being discriminated against for having big dogs and my life is being ruined from 1 person's accusation - probably someone who is afraid of big dogs - I get it all the time around here.

Please can you help me find a way to get these charges dropped. I do not have the funds for this fine and do not want my dogs to carry this label nor do I want to go to jail over something as ridiculous as this.

Sincerely,
Gary L.

[CdwJava]

It is not the police making the accusation so much as it is the person who is alleging their dog was injured by your dog. Nothing in your post indicates any untoward action by the officers.

If your dogs were never out of your sight, and this can be corroborated by others, then it would seem this would cast reasonable doubt upon the issue and you could well prevail.

You should consult an attorney as he or she might be able to negotiate a deal or find some way to combat the charges.

Good luck.

- Carl

[nextwife]

A properly socialized dog, regardless of how well behaved they are WITH you, is not going to take off and attack neighbor's animals just because they happened to get loose. If the dogs went and did that in the short time they were out, there is indeed a problem with them. Your community consists of people AND their pets. Neighbors dogs should be safe in their own yards.

I have several neighbors with dogs of various sizes - a golden retriever, a spaniel, two fox terrier, and all these dogs were well socialized, and whether on or off leash would not and have not attacked another dog just like that. So YOU need to realize that there IS a problem with your dogs, if they are attacking other dogs soon after getting off leash. One has to wonder if you failed to work on socializing them properly with a variety of other dogs, as well as a variety of people and ages. The charges are justified and the injuries to the other dog (or a child, perhaps, had they tried to intervene?) could have been worse.

There are TWO elements to the problem. The being at large is one. The at-large part would not have been as big an issue if the subsequent attack had not occurred. A "simply exploring" at-large, well behaved neighborhood dog with collar and tags may be fined the first time, or may be returned with a warning. The attack changed that dynamic. You seem to think that the fact they aren't NORMALLY loose is the whole answer.

[Garyl]

Actually, I may not have been clear in my previous post. We do not believe this could have happened otherwise I would not be posting here. Correct - the dogs were in the unfenced area of our front yard, but NOT unsupervised. Mistake - yes, no matter how well behaved we should never have put them in this position.

Socialized - completely proveable. Since young puppies both dogs have been exposed to many dogs of various sizes (pitbull, queensland, lab, Aussie and pugs. They have also been in many types of environments - I personally used to take them to work with me where they visited with co-workers and various clients. They are meek and timid. These dogs won't even run out of our site when we are in the woods with NO ONE around. They run just ahead of us and then stop and wait. Their pretty well trained and extremely friendly to all. The older dog never even growled at people when they played with her nursing puppies. It just isn't in these dog's nature to be aggressive.

I guess the point I was trying to make is that there appears to be zero evidence that our dogs actually did this and there are certainly no witnesses. I personally can not see it being possible - even if our dogs were aggressive, it seems impossible for them to have run 80+ feet up the road (something they have never done before) and attacked a small dog on a leash. First of all I WOULD have seen them run up the road. I was sitting in front of the window the whole time. The neighbor across the street would have seen it. It would have been pretty apparent as they are very large dogs. My boyfriend would have seen it. They may have gone around a corner without us seeing, but NOT up the road. Also, wouldn't there have been some noise. If YOU saw two HUGE GREAT DANES charging at you, wouldn't you at least lift your dog up, yell, run or something. From what I can tell on the report and from what the officer told us, it seems as though this person just stood there while our dogs ran up, bit his dog and ran back home. Lastly, if our dogs were really that agressive - their heads are the size of this dog's whole body. I think they would have killed or at least seriously injured this little dog if they did not like it.

At the VERY least, the owner would have wanted vet care, proof of rabies or SOMETHING. The facts just don't add up in this incident. If they DID then we would probably just try and get the fines reduced and go on. The background here is that outlying neighbors are all small dog owners and appear to be very uneasy with our dogs. For example - I walk them on a leash every day and 80% of the people we encounter pick their dogs up and move to the other side of the street when they see us coming. The remaining 20% take the time to say hello and let the animals sniff noses.

I am going to make a pretty big bet here that the victims dog was NOT on a leash and was more than likely just at the corner of our house. This is the ONLY way our dogs would have been able to approach it unseen and it would have had to have happened quite fast as none of our 3 witnesses ever noticed them being anywhere out of the yard. Between 3 people, I think something would have been seen and I think the injury would have at least warrented a visit to the vet.

In any event - we have letters from a number of other dog owners proving social acceptance of their pets as well as photos of them playing/sleeping with smaller dogs. Both of our vets have also stated good behavior.
NO - the charge is from the City. The civil matter is closed. It seems to me that one possible dog at large offence does not warrent this type of penalty. It could have easily been written up as a petty offence as no serious damage was infliced.

We are investigating attorney's now. All phone interviews have been positive to this point.

[moburkes]

In the first post, you're Gary L, and you mention your girlfriend and her mom. In the last post, you mention your boyfriend. Who is writing these posts?

[CdwJava]

It will be the responsibility of the state (in this case, as represented by the city) to prove that your dogs did this. Without proof their case might be weak. A decent defense attorney can likely cast reasonable doubt on any evidence that does not come from eyewitnesses, and unless they did a forensic bite analysis or had video of the attack, chances are the case will be too weak to hold up.

- Carl

[Garyl]

Second post was written by me (girlfriend). Gary is too upset to post anymore and told me I could continue it if I wanted.

We borrowed enough money for an attorney. We will go to pretrial alone and see what they offer. If it looks bad then we have an attorney to take the case and enough money to give him up front. When that is all over we are selling our house and moving out of city limits. Three months ago my boss (who lives in county)actually watched two pitbulls jump a fence, take a small dog from it's own yard, jump back over the fence and shake it to death. The owners were never even given a ticket. The city just has it in for us here and this is not a big dog friendly neighborhood. We don't care anymore, we are just glad that our beloved dogs are ok and were not taken. Vicious charge will almost certainly be dropped based on the amount of evidence we can provide. I doubt they will budge on dog at large. It's sad that the world has become like this. No warning or anything - just boom - you are a criminal.... They are such good dogs and everyone who knows us just loves them.