Pit Bulls Declared Dangerous Valley Man Now Owns Three Dangerous Dogs
Two pit bulls with a long history of intimidation incidents are dangerous, and should be insured and confined, Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley decided Tuesday.
The declaration increased the number of dangerous dogs Valley resident Troy Howard owns to three, the most in the county. Howard’s Rottweiler named “Ryche” was declared dangerous four months ago.
Howard also faces 13 citations for dog violations within the past seven months, including six criminal misdemeanor charges and two gross misdemeanor charges.
Roskelley’s decision to declare Howard’s pit bulls, “Baby” and “Moe,” dangerous was based on testimony given at a hearing last week.
Two people who have been chased by Howard’s dogs said at last Monday’s hearing that the pit bulls consistently run loose and are intimidating. Both dogs had been declared potentially dangerous within the past nine months, according to animal control records.
Nancy Sattin, county animal control director, deemed the pit bulls dangerous last month after they charged a woman and her young daughters.
Howard appealed, arguing that people who complained misunderstood his dogs’ playful excitement.
On Tuesday, Roskelley upheld Sattin’s decision.
“It’s important to the community that they don’t get out and intimidate people,” Roskelley said at the hearing.
The pit bulls are being kept inside Howard’s home, Sattin said. The Rottweiler is confined at the animal shelter. Animal control officers captured the Rottweiler last month after it reported to be running loose in the neighborhood, which is forbidden for a dog deemed potentially dangerous.
To keep the dogs, Howard must build an enclosed kennel or promise to keep the dogs permanently inside his home. He has already purchased $50,000 in liability insurance for each dog and posted warning signs, both required of owners of dangerous dogs.
If Howard cannot meet all of the requirements, the dogs could be euthanized.
At least five people have filed complaints against Howard’s dogs.
Sandra Spirey, who lives in a duplex near Howard, said at the hearing that she has been chased by the dogs several times. Her most recent run-in with them was last month.
Spirey had just put her 10- and 2-year-old daughters in the car on Jan. 23 when the dogs bolted out the front door of Howard’s house. She ran inside to call animal control, and heard her eldest daughter scream.
All three dogs charged at Spirey when she ran back outside, forcing her to dive into the back seat of her car on top of her 2-year-old daughter.
“I had been complaining to friends of mine that I was scared to death to go outside,” Spirey said. “And friends of mine were terrified to come over for fear of the dogs.”
Spokane County Public Works director Dennis Scott, who also lives near Howard, said he has not seen the incidents, but has received more than one panicked phone call from Spirey.
“If I’m a witness to anything it’s that when she calls, I can hear the terror in her voice for her little kids,” said Scott.
Dennis Bjerke, a county Parks Department worker, said he was charged by Howard’s dogs last Sept. 4 while emptying trash in Edgecliff Park.
Over several minutes, Howard’s dogs cornered Bjerke twice on top of his county-owned truck and once in the rafters of the park’s picnic area shelter.
“I thought they were just harmless and they started growling,” Bjerke said.
Eventually, a garbage truck driver who was in the area scared the dogs away with a pitchfork and pepper spray, according a complaint Bjerke filed with animal control.
Howard argued that a bias against pit bulls struck unwarranted fear in the complainants. The dogs have never harmed Howard’s 1-year-old daughter who falls all over them and tugs on their ears, he said.
“Before you ever meet them or see them, these dogs have a stigma to them,” Howard said. “They run around and bark like any other dog would do when they get loose. If they wanted to bite they would have done so by now.”
, DataTimes