LITTLE ROCK — Fayetteville Animal Shelter staff considered Rudy one of the shelter's most well-behaved dogs before he was adopted by a Springdale family now fighting to keep him.
Springdale District Court will decide Sept. 4 whether the 2-yearold American Staffordshire terrier should be considered vicious and his owners guilty of harboring a vicious animal.
The 77-pound dog was just starting to get comfortable being left in the backyard when his family went on vacation over the July Fourth holiday. Springdale police saw a different side of the dog when they responded to a mailman's emergency call on July 3 that the dog had chased and lunged at him. The dog barked and growled at responding officers, police reports said.
In Springdale, dogs are considered either vicious or not, said Brett Harris, animal services director. If a dog has a "less than friendly" encounter, he can be deemed vicious, Harris said. Vicious dogs have to be removed from the city, usually by euthanasia, he said.
Harris is working on developing an intermediate step to deal with dogs that shouldn't be deemed vicious but can't be considered harmless, either, he said.
"The right circumstances can cause any animal or person to lash out," Harris said. "We all do our best to not put our animal in a position they would fail."
Harris also is lobbying Springdale city leaders against pursuing a proposed ban on pit bulls, which would include Staffordshires, American pit bull terriers and mixes.
Springdale recorded nearly 70 vicious dog cases in 2007 and 2008, with roughly half involving pit bulls or pit mixes, according to a memo that Springdale City Attorney Jeff Harper gave City Council members.
Harper broached the breed ban, but said the City Council likely will stop short of a ban, possibly enacting some restrictions on pit bulls.
Harper said that he's waiting to see Harris' plans for an intermediate step but said the city has no room for vicious animals.
Springdale already has the legal means to deal with vicious dogs. Its law, though, doesn't includeany provisions to allow dogs that have shown aggressive behavior but haven't bitten anyone to live in the city. Fayetteville and Bentonville, for example, both allow owners to keep aggressive dogs so long as they keep the dogs in enclosed, locked pens and muzzle the dogs when leashed.
Springdale may enact a similar regulation, but that won't affect Rudy's case.
Sarah and David Shamas had no idea Rudy could jump a fence when they left town for two nights in July, leaving the dog out in the backyard under the care of a neighbor's child. They adopted Rudy in April.
Sarah Shamas said she was shocked when she received a call from a police officer.
The muscular brown dog, with a block head and wide toothy grin, charged a mailman and lunged at officers, who used stun weapons to subdue the animal, according to police reports. Even after officers shooed the dog back into its yard and closed the gate, they were afraid of it. One officer was so worried he drew his pistol just in case the dog made it over the fence. Rudy tried repeatedly to leap over a 5-foot gate to get to officers, reports say.
Shamas describes her dog as a loving animal and has pictures of it being friendly with people of all ages in various environments.
Rudy was the first pit bull that Fayetteville Animal Shelter volunteers took to the Fayetteville Farmers Market to show off for adoption, said Jill Hatfield, animal services superintendent.
News of the altercation affected shelter volunteers who knew Rudy as Chico, Hatfield said.
"Some caregivers sat and cried," she said.
Hatfield said the shelter assesses the temperament of all dogs brought in. Her staff is trained in the Assess-a-Pet program, she said.
Rudy passed the 15-minute test with flying colors, Hatfield said.
In the 911 call made by mailman David Brooks, Rudy can be heard growling and barking and making a second charge, said Amber Roe, assistant city attorney, who is handling the case.
Brooks stated that the dog was outside the fenced yard and charged him. The postal carrier started to run away and kicked the dog as he fled the area.
If Rudy is found to be a vicious dog, the judge will have the option to order him destroyed, but Roe said she is only seeking his removal from the city.
"I never want a dog to be put down, but I think the safest thing in a situation like this is to get the dog out of the city," Roe said.
City law only requires a dog show a propensity to bite, she said, which Rudy has done.
Roe is pursuing a charge of harboring a vicious animal and allowing an animal to run at large, both carrying a fine of up to $1,000, plus court costs. She offered a deal to Shamases to pay $25 in court costs and remove the dog from the city. The family turned down the deal, Roe said.
Apparently, the owners think the officers were enjoying shocking the dog, Roe said.
"I can assure you these officers were not having fun," she said.
Using Tasers or other shock devices on dogs is something many behaviorists discourage, said Sarah Kalnajs, owner of Blue Dog Training & Behavior, based in Madison, Wis.
"By 'Tasing' the dog, they gave the dog no option but to fight," she said. Kalnajs, a certified dog behavior consultant, serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal dog bite cases.
Arousal and aggression are closely tied states in animals, especially dogs, Kalnajs said. Just like people, dogs' responses increase as they become more frustrated, she said.
Rudy shouldn't have been left alone, Kalnajs said, and supervision would have prevented the encounter.
But if the dog was vicious or aggressive, it would have bitten someone, she said.
"Dogs don't miss. If they bite you, they meant to," she said.
Kalnajs said when the mailman kicked the dog, he increased the dog's arousal. The mailman then ran, which only served to fuel the dog's drive, she said.
Being attacked by a dog is in many ways like being attacked by a grizzly bear, Kalnajs said.
"You don't try to one-up a grizzly bear, because you're going to lose. You don't try to oneup a dog, because you're going to lose," she said.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 08/24/2009