UPDATE: Is This Seymour Dog Vicious?

The owner of a pit bull declared vicious” by the town last year has filed a lawsuit trying to clear her dog’s name.

Carol Lehrer, 44, of Bungay Road, said there is no clear proof that her pit bull, Sir Duke Holly,” killed Ruby,” her neighbor’s King Charles Cavalier Spaniel.

Sir Duke” and a Rottweiler that belonged to Lehrer’s houseguest were accused of killing the 7‑year-old spaniel.

The decision to classify the pit bull as vicious, Lehrer said in her lawsuit, was illegal, arbitrary, capricious and constitutes an abuse of discretion.”

Personally, I think the dog had a heart attack or got shaken,” Lehrer said of her neighbor’s pooch. The only mark on the dog was on his rear hindquarter. The police said it could have been a tooth mark, or a mark from a scuffle. If a pitbull attacked a small dog, it would be a horrible mess.”

As the owner of a vicious dog, the town ordinance required Lehrer to hold $50,000 in liability insurance on the dog, post a sign outside her house warning others of a vicious dog on the premises, and keep the dog in the house or behind a six-foot fence at all times, among other things.

John Naeher, the owner of the dead dog, said the pit bull’s classification as vicious” is obviously correct.

Whether the two dogs came over and intended to kill my dog or not, I’m not arguing about that. Whatever their reason, they came over and killed my dog. Period. That’s what the ordinance says is a vicious dog,” he said Tuesday. We like our neighbors and we felt very badly that this was going to become a disaster, but I’m going to fight this as hard as I can.”

Background

A teenage girl living with the Naehers as an exchange student placed a call to Naeher at about 1 p.m. Sept. 1.

It was this frantic phone call,” Naeher said. She was standing in our yard, screaming and crying in broken English, John, you must come home quick, two dogs killing Ruby!’”

The girl said the pit bull and the Rottweiler were chasing Ruby and another small dog, Max, around the Naehers’ yard. The teen managed to get Max to run inside the house.

Naeher, hoping his exchange student was overreacting, rushed home from work in Trumbull.

When I pulled in, the two dogs were still there, standing over our dog, and she’s dead,” Naeher said. She was covered in saliva, and there were bite marks around her rear end and all around her neck. Her hair was all matted down, and she wasn’t covered in a pool of blood or anything, but had quite a few bite marks.”

After his dog was killed, Naeher expected to see Lehrer’s pit bull and her houseguest’s Rottweiler removed from their owners, if not euthanized. 

So when police and animal control told him they had few options other than to cite Lehrer and her house guest for allowing the pit bull and the Rottweiler to roam, Naeher was irate.

Not only were we violated in the sense that these dogs came onto our property, but they killed our dog on our property — and they threatened the girl that was there. She felt powerless to come out – the dogs were growling, and she felt scared for her life,” Naeher said. So when the warden tells me that it gets a little awkward here as to what exactly can be done, I’m like, They can come on my property and kill my dog and all you can do is give them a citation for letting the dogs leave the property? Are you out of your mind?’”

Naeher said his only option under local was to request a hearing in front of police Chief Michael Metzler.

The hearing was held Sept. 9, 2009. 

Metzler declared the pit bull and the Rottweiler vicious animals.

Click here to read how Seymour defines a vicious” animal.

Pit Bull Friendly, Law Unfair, Owner Says

Lehrer, who filed her lawsuit against the town in October, said her pit bull was familiar with her neighbor’s dogs.

My dog never should have been in his backyard, and I’m not going to say it wasn’t a horrible, horrible situation that happened, but it’s not like it’s the first time my dog ever saw him and ripped this dog to shreds,” Lehrer said.

In the lawsuit, Lehrer said there is still no proof that any attack against Naeher’s dog was unprovoked, or that the pitbull even attacked Naeher’s dog.

A police report states that Naeher returned home to see the pit bull licking his dead dog.

Are they nice dogs? No. That changed when they killed my dog,” he said.

Lehrer said no autopsy was ever done on the Naeher’s dog, a fact confirmed by Seymour Animal Control Officer Deborah Ice.

In her lawsuit, Lehrer contends that the local law’s definition of vicious” is too broad.

What could happen is, a dog could knock down a little girl and suddenly become a vicious dog,” she said.

In addition, Lehrer said she objects to the way the town conducted the 35-minute hearing where her pit bull was declared vicious.

I feel I was treated very unfairly through the whole appeal process,” she said. I was told I did not need legal counsel, that Chief Metzler only wanted to speak to the parties involved. But then my neighbor showed up with his lawyer, and the town attorney cross-examined the dog warden — it didn’t matter that the dog warden and my veterinarian both said my dog wasn’t vicious. If I had my attorney with me this, this whole thing would have been thrown out.”

A hearing on the case is scheduled for Sept. 3 in Superior Court in Milford.

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