Dog attack leaves former county commissioner packing protection

Being a Spokane County commissioner didn’t give Mark Richard any special protection from a terrifying encounter with off-leash dogs.

“It was a bizarre day at Iller Creek (Conservation Area),” he said Wednesday, recounting a 2011 incident while he held the elective office.

Shortly after leaving the trailhead with his springer spaniel and small Shih Tzu on leashes beside him, they saw a cow moose and her calf cross the trail just ahead.

“After they went on down the slope, I continued, euphoric about seeing such big and graceful animals,” he said.

But just a short way farther, the mood changed quickly as he heard a commotion above. Three loose Rottweilers were running down the trail toward him ahead of three young men.

“The pack of dogs rounded the corner and immediately started attacking my dogs,” Richard said. “I heard voices so I started hollering for the guys to call off their dogs. I got no response whatsoever. They took no action to help my situation.”

Richard kicked the Rottweilers off his dogs and continued to yell at the men.

“Instead of them having any courtesy or empathy, they doubled down,” he said. “They started trash talking me and cussing at me. I was pretty heated. That caused one to drop his daypack and threaten to come to blows.

“It was absolutely frightening at every level.”

Richard looked into the matter later and realized that getting official help was unlikely no matter who you are.

“I called 911, but the men and their dogs were headed down the trail so there no longer was immediate danger,” he said. “The sheriff took a report, but that’s as far as it went. What else could they do?

“The County Parks has only one ranger.”

“Looking back, I’m fortunate,” Richard said. “My dogs got out of it with minor injuries and I wasn’t hurt or assaulted. It could have been worse.”

However, the incident changed his outlook on hiking Spokane County trails. “Our wonderful parks and conservation areas attract mostly great people who love the outdoors,” he said. “But they also attract some people who don’t operate within our laws and social norms.

“In that incident, all the laws on the books would do me no good because I was facing a group that wasn’t interested in obeying the law.

“As a law-abiding citizen, I now carry a weapon when I go hiking. I’m not going to put myself or my animals in that position again. I was literally defenseless in a remote area against three guys and three large dogs.

“I hate to say that as a community we’ve come to that. But I’m not going to take the chance of being put in that situation without a way out.”

Richard was pleased to report that in the six years that he’s been packing a weapon when he hikes with his dogs, he’s had no more tense encounters or need to resort to a weapon for defense.