There is a neighbor who hates my dog. Hates her in the sense that they want to press charges. Bailey lunges at people and I know that is scary for some. She is always on her leash when we are outside and I am able to control her. And while she does lunge, she's never harmed anyone or anything. She's received 2 tickets from animal control in the past month and a half. Both of those times she was walking with my dad, who we know can't control Bailey, or even be able to tell me the full story. And both times it was the same person who called animal control. My mom talked to the neighbor which is how we found out who hates my dog, and that they want to, but won't yet unless we do something, press charges.
Of course I panicked. Big time. I called dr soc in an emotional frenzy and explained in between sobs while he wisely kept his mouth shut about his personal issues with my dog. He was able to calm me down some and help me down the rational path a little. My first step was that I had to find out what was going on, who had what rights and what can be done. So I called animal control and got some more details and helped me understand things a little better.
First, these are nuance complaints and not citations. Citations have court dates, and furthermore, my animal is not been categorized as a violent animal by animal control. The records show that I have followed up on both these tickets and they've been dismissed in a way.
Second: Animal control has never seen my animal, or any evidence of violence, which is why she is not categorized as a violent animal. Animal control needs to witness violence towards one of their officers or physical proof, such as a mauled (or dead) animal, a bite mark in order for them to issue the citation.
However, this neighbor can still press charges in a civil suit if they wanted too. But the burden of proof is on the person pressing charges. And as far as I know, there is none of that. Because Bailey hasn't harmed anyone. Yes I know she mouthed someone's arm, and that was scary. But she didn't bite, leave a mark and no physical harm was done. So if this was to go to court, for the moment I think it's my word against theirs.
I'm not making excuses for my dog. I have called a private trainer and we''ll get Bailey to stop lunging at strangers and calm down. I am the only one that is walking her now. I work with her on basic obedience every single night. And I stay the hell away from my hateful spiteful neighbor as well. We're moving in 2 months anyway. But even when I get her trained and if she were to become 100% perfect angle, I'm always going to have this threat of legality over my head now. And this all consuming fear that I could loose my dog sends me to tears at almost anytime of day. I'm trying to be as proactive as I can in this, but I am teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. I am always going to be on the defense when it comes to Bailey. I am always going to be fighting for her. And I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.
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