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Dog’s move to Schenectady upsets city officials
Animal involved in attack on Pittsfield boy
SCHENECTADY — A vicious dog moved to Schenectady this week, part of a plea deal that allowed its Pittsfield, Mass., owner to relocate her dog rather than put it to death.
The dog was involved in an attack on a 9-year-old boy in Pittsfield in June. Another dog who led the attack was euthanized, while Zeus was deemed officially vicious and sent to live in Schenectady. Owner Lori Rohde’s boyfriend owns a house on Orchard Street, so she wanted to come here.
Mayor Gary McCarthy was furious to hear that Central Berkshire District Court offered Rohde a choice of relocation instead of restraining or euthanizing Zeus.
“We don’t want these dogs coming here,” he said. “It’s pushing the problems somewhere else as opposed to solving it.”
Assistant Corporation Counsel Carl Falotico added that when he learned late last week that the dog might be sent here, he tried to persuade the court to euthanize Zeus instead.
“The city of Schenectady’s position was we wanted these dogs put down since they have been adjudicated dangerous,” he said.
He was actually informed by the owner’s attorney, who called to ask him for a letter saying the city would welcome the dogs.
“I told her absolutely not. We don’t welcome these dogs here,” he said.
But the city has little recourse. The legal decisions have already been made, and the city’s laws regarding dangerous dogs only apply to dogs that committed those acts within the city limits. Even the new law requiring owners of dangerous dogs to get liability insurance won’t apply to Zeus, because he hasn’t done anything wrong in Schenectady.
Falotico plans to simply notify animal control officers and strictly enforce the leash law and licensing requirements.
It’s not unheard of to relocate a dangerous dog. Schenectady allows relocation too, but not in cases where a human was bitten. City attorneys now demand euthanization in those cases, Falotico said.
But Rohde successfully argued in court that Zeus had not actually bitten the boy, although he may have scratched and trampled the child. The boy was left with 35 puncture wounds to his head and lost part of his scalp.
Police described the wounds as bites; Rohde said they were from the dogs’ claws.
Police also said the dogs ripped off part of the boy’s scalp, but Rohde said the injury happened when the boy fell off the stairs after being pushed down.
Rohde said Zeus was not a violent dog.
“He’s just afraid,” she said.
On Wednesday, Zeus greeted strangers by barking furiously and climbing into a window to get near them. By court order, he can only be walked with a muzzle and only allowed to roam freely in his fenced backyard. But Pittsfield officials acknowledged they are not going to check on him.
Rohde is working with a specialized trainer to socialize him. As he barked at strangers, she chanted, “New friend, new friend,” which he ignored. But after she dragged him away from the window and put him in a gated room where he could not see the strangers, he immediately calmed down.
She’s not ready to let him near people. Neither is her boyfriend. They say he was holding Zeus’ leash when the attack began. He was also holding the leash for Diablo, who led the attack. He said he was unable to hold the dogs back. He also owns a dog, Cleopatra, who the courts deemed well-behaved.
For now, no stranger is allowed in the house. Zeus will begin Good Citizen dog training classes in Glenville on Aug. 24, which may teach him to accept strangers touching him and playing with him. He can only pass the class if he accepts strangers touching him, can walk past other dogs “without losing his mind” and can continue to behave when his owner steps away.
It won’t be easy to retrain him, Good Citizen trainer Cydney Cross warned. And it will require hard work for the humans.
“If they are committed to doing what they are told to do, no one will ever hear anything about this dog for the rest of its life,” she said. “They know their behavior is going to be critical to letting this poor guy live out his life.”
She doesn’t pull punches. She visited Zeus and Diablo in a kennel in Pittsfield and told Rohde that Diablo had to be put down.
“I told them there was no way. He wasn’t going to be one of the ones who was saved,” she said.
And she said she’ll report to police if she thinks Zeus is out of control.
“I’m watching them,” she said. “If I see something I don’t like, if they don’t come to class, I’ll tell the police to go pick up the dog.”
Rohde is already practicing the tips Cross taught her.
“Thank God for her,” she said.
And Cross is convinced that Rohde intends to work hard.
“Hopefully these people have learned from their mistake and this dog will get a chance at life,” she said.
Rohde said the incident wasn’t her fault and that it wasn’t a case of poor training.
“I’ve owned dogs for 36 years and I’ve never, ever, ever had a problem,” she said.
Later she admitted that her boyfriend had been ticketed when Diablo, the euthanized dog, was running loose in Schenectady during a visit a couple years ago. The two also had to call Pittsfield police in 2007 when their unneutered male dogs got into a fight, injuring both of them as they tried to stop it. Police later had to shoot one of the dogs when it attacked them as they tried to enter the house.
But each incident was a unique situation, she said.
“They made it like we breed these killers,” she added. “My dogs are my children. I love them.”
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5:35 a.m.
I don't think anybody really knows what goes on in the mind of an animal. You can *train* them but you can't *tame* them. They are, after all, wild animals, and when they sense danger or the scent of prey, they can and will attack. Owners who are baffled by such behavior have not done their homework on the behavior of animals. All the psycho-babble in the world is not going to stop animals from attacking and it's just a matter of time before the dog that was brought here after being involved in a vicious attack on a little boy does so again. What in the world are the authorities thinking of?? Of course they aren't thinking because dog lovers love their dogs more than they love human beings, especially vulnerable children. Shameful!
7:58 a.m.
While the attack on the young boy is very unsettling, please don't label innocent animals. They are a product of their environment. This is the not the first pit bull to live in the city of Schenectady - and really- if it was not a pit bull would their be that much concern? Any animal posesses the natural instinct to attack - that is why the owner is being responsible and is willing to take the time to train his dog(s).
I think the city needs to concentrate on the human "animals" living in the city that have more lethal weapons - guns and knives! Attacks of THAT kind are in the news everyday.
8:30 a.m.
Cortsmom87 does not live on Orchard Street and may not have any young kids to be worried about. Cortsmom87 is worried about "human animals" but of course not the person bringing this dog to Schenectady. LOL.
11:32 a.m.
The City of Schenectady does not have a clue as to how to deal with this problem. The majority of dogs here are unlicensed. If you can't get someone to buy a license, what makes you think they would buy insurance? There are NOT enough animal control officers to deal with the onslaught of loose dogs. then, when someone like me finally gets irresponsible dog owners to court - they get a plea bargain and nothing changes.
11:43 a.m.
We had a 3 year old dog who had lived with us from the time he was 8 weeks old. He was not a pit bull, he had never been aggressive with any other animal or any human --until the day he attacked our two year old daughter. He backed her up to a wall where she couldn't escape, and had his jaws around her face. Luckily, there were two adults in the same room when it happened, so we were able (with quite some difficulty) to pull the dog off the child, but not before he had broken the skin enough to cause bleeding from her eyelid, her forehead, and her chin. 12 years later she still has a scar on her chin. The dog seemed to "lose his mind" and go crazy. If we had not been in the same room and able to act quickly, the dog would have killed our daughter. That dog, though also a "member of the family", was put down that day. He could never be trusted again. This was a terrifying reminder that dogs can sometimes act in a way we least expect. In my opinion, a dog that physically attacks another animal or human should be destroyed whether we "love them" or not.
4:20 p.m.
The unfortunate thing is that the dogs get blamed and its not the dogs fault. Its all in how you raise them. I have seen some very nice pit bulls owned by some wonderful people that were very obedient and very friendly dogs. As a retired Schenectady cop, I dealt with these idiot and irresponsible pit bull owners first hand and saw how they raise these dogs to fight and attack other people and dogs. When it becomes necessary for us to use lethal action to terminate the threat of an attacking dog we get the blame as being the bad guys because the dog was viewed as angelic by the owner(s). This POS should have had the dogs taken away from him because this incident is only going to happen again. Twenty-one years in Law Enforcement allows me to say this as being fact. But people like Mr. Pollack seem to gravitate to Schenectady which is the even sadder fact that gives this city its horrible reputation.
7:29 p.m.
Obviously the local law needs to be amended so that it will not matter where the dog's history occurred, that an attack is an attack.
Of course the attacks are the dogs' fault. And the adult who allowed it nearby. And I would say the same thing if my dog attacked tonight. As pointed out, these are really wild animals that have been trained to USUALLY behave.
Do we have any murderers or rapists to ship off to Pittsfield?
8:10 p.m.
The big worry is the dog moving here?.......How about all the criminal activity exodus we have in Schenectady...Graffiti, Guns, and Gangs? Thousands upon thousands sucking the life out of Schenectady!