County maintains dog is dangerous

Buddy is dangerous.

Despite the dog owner’s appeal to remove the demeanor designation assigned by Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service (SCRAPS), a Spokane County hearings examiner determined it was accurate.

“I’m disappointed he was ruled dangerous. He’s not,” said Debra Robinson, Buddy’s owner, after the hearing. “It’s my fault this happened, not his.”

The 10-year-old boxer/Saint Bernard mix had bitten people twice before – once in 2002 and again in 2003 – and had the status of potentially dangerous.

Biting Steve “Skip” Hoitink on March 31 was basically Buddy’s third strike, officials said.

Hoitink was walking in the 2900 block of South Bowdish when he noticed Buddy in Robinson’s yard on cable-type leash that was attached to a tree.

He said he heard the dog growl and it ran toward him, but he didn’t think the dog could reach the graveled right-of-way where he was walking. Buddy leaped on Hoitink and bit his left arm, puncturing the skin.

Hoitink said he pulled out a knife and threatened to stab the dog if he tried to bite him again. Just then, Robinson and her daughter retrieved Buddy.

Buddy left eight puncture wounds on a meter reader in 2002, said Emylee Tolliver, an animal control officer for SCRAPS. He was deemed potentially dangerous then, but the designation was lifted a year later when there were no further incidents.

In 2003, the red and white dog bit a girl who was walking in the same area as Hoitink, but didn’t puncture her skin through the leather coat she was wearing. He was again labeled potentially dangerous, but that time it stuck and it was the dog’s status when he bit Hoitink.

Robinson said she’d constructed a 6-foot fence around her property, placed concrete blocks at the bottom so Buddy couldn’t dig underneath, purchased a new leash, had her dog neutered and bought a muzzle.

“I should have built this fence long ago,” she said, then apologized to the Hoitinks.

Spokane County hearing examiner Mike Dempsey said despite her recent actions, it wasn’t enough to remove the dangerous designation.

Robinson must pay a $100 fine, carry $250,000 liability insurance on Buddy and has to keep the dog in the house or in a kennel with a top on it. She also agreed to pay Steve Hoitink’s medical bills in connection to the bite.