Examiner Determines Dog Is Potentially Dangerous

Thu., Feb. 24, 2000

By Isamu Jordan isamuj@spokesman.com

A dog in Mead is getting a second chance from Spokane County Commissioners, even after biting a woman’s hand so badly she needed eight stitches and plastic surgery.

And this wasn’t the dog’s first offense.

In a hearing Tuesday, county commissioners sided with hearing examiner John Roskelley’s recommendation to determine Tosha, a white shepherd mix, as a potentially dangerous dog.

Until a Feb. 14 hearing, Tosha was tagged a dangerous dog by Spokane County Animal Control.

The difference: getting a potentially dangerous declaration is, in essence, a warning.

“It’s like one strike against you. This warns you that we have the bite on record,” said Spokane County Animal Control officer Jennifer Kline, who originally deemed Tosha dangerous.

In late January, Kline received a call from Rosalie Scott who was being treated at Holy Family Hospital.

Scott passed Tosha while the dog was being walked by the owner, Gene Williams. Tosha bit Scott on the left hand when she reached down to pet the dog, according to the hearing record.

Kline deemed Tosha dangerous because the dog inflicted severe injury on a human.

In 1998, Tosha was quarantined for 10 days for biting another man, Albert Bruneau.

A dog is deemed dangerous for killing another animal, having a prior potential dangerous dog declaration and inflicting severe injury on a human, which means stitches or broken bones, according to Spokane County Animal Control.

Because of the potentially dangerous dog declaration, Williams will have to keep Tosha on a muzzle whenever the dog is off the owner’s property or in the presence of people other than family.

Tosha also has a microchip, about as thick as pencil lead, implanted under the skin. The chip shows positive identification if Tosha strikes again.

Had Tosha been deemed dangerous the penalties would have been steeper.

A dog deemed dangerous is required to be kept in an enclosure at all times, the owner would have to pay a liability insurance and pay to have the dog registered as a threat.

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