Injured Chow Picked Up By Owner
Sharie Pearson was able to pick up her dog from an animal control shelter despite being charged with abuse so severe that it nearly killed the 11-month-old chow.
According to court papers, Pearson didn’t loosen Throck’s collar from the time he was a puppy to when he was found by animal control officers in January.
The collar was imbedded an inch and a half into the 55-pound dog’s neck, causing a wound 6 inches long and 1-1/2 inches wide, according to court filings.
“I can’t remember a case like this in recent memory,” said Spokane County Animal Control director Nancy Sattin.
Pearson, 27, has been charged with second-degree animal cruelty for the alleged neglect. At her request, Pearson will get a jury trial, scheduled for April 10.
The woman retrieved Throck from the animal control shelter Monday, though District Court Judge Mike Padden signed a release order March 19.
The dog is now healthy, the wound healed. But Sattin fears for Throck’s safety.
“My only concern is that… it be properly cared for and looked after,” said Sattin.
Matthew Harget, Pearson’s attorney, said his client was oblivious of the embedded collar. Oblivion, he said, is not a crime.
“Are you a criminal if you don’t notice the collar on the dog?” said Harget, a public defender. “I’d say not.”
Animal Control has been called to Pearson’s 6408 N. Normandie home several times. Throck was reported running loose last summer and neighbors have called in complaints about Pearson’s other dog, a black chow.
Animal control officers picked up Throck Jan. 14, when the dog tried to bite neighbor Rex Mason.
Mason called sheriff’s deputies. They, too, were threatened by the rust-colored dog. Throck was impounded and Pearson was fined $228 for having a dog running loose, threatening and lacking inoculation.
“It was probably not in a very good mood from having that collar and a giant open wound,” said Sattin.
Animal control officers noticed the wound when Pearson tried to retrieve the dog Jan. 16. They denied her custody.
Veterinarian Catherine Roth spent 45 minutes cleaning the wound. If it hadn’t been treated, the collar could have asphyxiated Throck, she said in an affidavit.
Harget questions why the wound was just on the underside of Throck’s neck, suggesting animal control officers may have contributed to the cut when they removed the collar.
Mason, the neighbor threatened by Throck, said Pearson’s dogs routinely run loose. They enjoy digging through his trash filled with dirty diapers, he said.
He and other neighbors regularly report Pearson to SpokAnimal Care, the human society, animal control and the sheriff, he said.
“I’m looking at her house right now and there’s a dog tied to a stake with three feet of rope, there’s no dog dish, no water dish, just tied to this slab of cement,” said Mason. “Feces is just all over the patio, all over the grass.”
Harget says Pearson is not “the kind of person who hurts dogs.” If she was, the court wouldn’t have returned the dog to her.
If convicted, Pearson could be sentenced to up to 6 months in jail and fined up to $1,000.
, DataTimes