Dog Control Officer is a Bitch--Long, Angry RANT

The BBQ Pit
1

Some of you may remember my thread about losing my beloved cat Achmed after an attack by my landlord’s dog.

This is my enraged update.

I had a ticket issued to my ex-landlord for harassing an animal. At the prompting of the Dog Control Officer, the judge dismissed the ticket because cats are not considered domestic animals (they’re companion animals) and companion animals are not protected under any NYS statute. At all. Yes, folks, a dog can kill your cat and you have no chance of assessing a criminal penalty, esp. for renters who share property with the dog owner. Good to know, eh?

The dog control officer was a fucking bitch (pun intended). She refused to file the dangerous dog petition on my behalf. At first she gave me shit b/c if I won, the dog could be destroyed, which would be punishing the dog, not the landlord. I told her I failed to see the distinction, and though destroying the dog was not my goal, restraining her for life is, and the penalty phase of the punishment wasn’t up to me anyway. She seemed angry at me for even wanting to file the petition all, and said in her opinion, the dog was sweet and not vicious and she would testify to that in court, and was unimpressed when I told her that I saw another side to that “sweet dog.”

Next, I mentioned that my landlord was not a very nice person… and she said, “ACTUALLY, he was very nice to ME.” :wally Well, bully for you! Ever seen him falling down drunk? Ever have him propositon you (hey, maybe he did and that’s why she likes him so much)? Ever tell you that he doesn’t give a damn about your cat’s pain? Ever have him brag to you that his dog roams widely, often off his property, and kills other people’s pets and wild animals whenever she can, with his approval? No, OF COURSE not. OF COURSE he was nice to you. You’re a law enforcement officer in his home, you stupid bitch.

Apparently he showed her a copy of his generic lease, NOT signed by me, which indicated that pets were not permitted at all in his property, and he claimed that I was not allowed to have cats in there and snuck them in. This is of course a total lie and I told her I had the lease that WAS signed WITH a provision for me to have cats on it, to prove it. She asked to see it, but you know, I didn’t fucking have it ON me. The other bad news is that, due to my recent, frenzied relocation, I cannot locate my copy of the lease. DAMMIT! I always know where those papers are, but now I don’t. I’d better find it soon…but he did admit to her that her dog kills cats, so that could count against him.

So, Dog Bitch said I could go ahead and file the Dangerous Dog Petition on my own, but would probably not get anywhere with it. The big surprise for her and my landlord is that I went to a doctor yesterday to have him re-assess my injuries. I self-reported in the ER that both of my bites were cat bites, but I don’t remember the bite in my leg happening and didn’t even know about it until my pajama leg was wet with blood, much later. Without any prompting at all from me, my doctor said it looked to him as though it was actually a dog bite, and will put that diagnosis in writing for me. HA! Fuck you! That makes my Dangerous Dog Petition infinitely more viable, so there goes your “sweet dog” description.

I was trying to wrap up this very unpleasant conversation with the Dog Bitch and mentioned that the only way I might get satisfaction is in a civil suit. She disagreed and said, and here’s the kicker, "Good luck-- you do know that the fair market value of you cat is about $10, so…"

:mad: :mad: :mad:

What exactly is the “fair market value” of a best friend? Of a daily source of love, snuggling, happiness, and wonderment? What is the fair market value of my peace of mind, mental health, and joie de vivre? Oh how lucky she is that I’m not a sociopath, because I definitely saw red when I heard that comment. Achmed is/was priceless to me, so for her to say that to me was like throwing battery acid in my open wound. Why say that horrible thing to me? To top it off, fair market value is not actually relevant to this case, so it was just plain mean for her to say that, and it hurt. A lot.

This girl’s (and she was a girl-- she looked to be in her early 20’s, so no wonder she was so naive) callousness and inexplicable bias in my landlord’s favor was horrifying to me. I wanted to scream at her and shake her. Instead, I almost cried, and left, and then did cry, a lot. This whole process is so much bullshit. I just want justice for my cat. I want this man to know that what his dog did is wrong, it’s his fault, and he can’t do it and keep getting away with it. Letting her roam free is dangerous to other animals, and also to the dog, whom he claims to love.

The laws in this situation are antiquated–there is an addendum to the law, drawing the distinction between a companion animal and a domestic animal, but not going the rest of the way and incorporating companion animals into the criminal statutes. It’s very frustrating and even Dog Bitch admitted it was wrong. I may have to do some work around here to get that law changed.

If you’ve gotten to the bottom of this post, wow. Thanks for listening.

2

I know that I have expressed my sympathy in that other thread, but I will do so again. I am very sorry for your loss.

At the very least, I should think that a letter to this person’s supervisor would be in order. She is, after all, a public servant and (though she may, in the end, not be able to do something about the situation legally) she should have handled this with sensitivity and compassion.

Depending on how far you want to take it, this may be the sort of a story that the local news would be interested in.

Again, as one cat person to another, I offer my sympathy.

3

My condolences on the loss of your cat–I share my house with Metadog, and I’d be very hurt if if something like this happened to her. You have my sympathy.

That said: From what you’ve described, I don’t think it’s fair to villify the dog control officer. Killing a cat doesn’t mean a dog is a dangerous animal, biting a human who breaks up a fight doesn’t mean a dog is a dangerous animal (there’s a right way and a wrong way to break up a fight with dogs…), and letting his dog in the backyard (I assume this all occured on his property) doesn’t make your landlord an irresponsible pet owner (or at least, no more irresponsible then you, who also had let–inadvertantly, of course–an animal outside your house).

She may have gotten the impression that you weren’t taking any responsibility for the incident, and that you were jerking her around (“This lease paper that I don’t have says I’m allowed to have the cat!”), and that you wanted revenge on a dog that, from what I hear, didn’t do anything wrong. I might have been snippy too in her situation.

I’m not accusing you of being a bad pet owner or a bad person or anything–I genuinely feel for you, while at the same time not condeming anyone else in this story based on what I’ve read here. Sometimes trying to understand the other side can take the edge off of the anger–few people are as one dimensional as we’d like to pretend.

4

You might want to take a peek at the original thread. That is not how it happened.

5

This is the problem, Metacom. A huge fucking problem, in my opinion. I can’t believe the bitch actually said that. I’d have died crying. Please pursue this, Rubystreak!

6

I did read the original thread, and that sounds to me like what happened…

7

It depends on how she said it–she could have said it sarcastically, to express her own disgust with it. Perhaps Rubystreak, in her anger, misinterpeted her meaning.

8

From the first thread:

Not sure how this falls under the responsible dog owner school of thought, but YMMV. Perhaps if the dog starts running down and mauling children we can agree that there is a problem. :rolleyes:

9

Also, from this thread:

All of that being said, I have to say that you are striking me as being rather insensitive here. I know that we are here to debate and seek the truth, but I see no reason to doubt the OPs portrayal of events. What is your deal anyway?

10

This is NOT a big problem, this is reality. A civil lawyer can only assess so much money for a piece of property lost. Yes, a cat would probably be considered “property” in civil court. Your best bet is to attempt to collect your LOSSES in civil court. Actual money spent or lost, not the subjective value of your animal. FMV of a cat would probably be about $10, unless you spent thousands on him as a kitten and he was some special breed.

Go to court for your hospital bills, and maybe even the cost to relocate, but you can’t assign some random value to a cat. I know he was your world(like my dog is), but that doesn’t mean the courts would assess a value of $100, 1000, or 1 000,000 just because he was your best buddy. I know that probably hurts, but civil cases are very specialized and have to be handled a certain way. A criminal charge by the Animal Control agency would go very far in helping you with a civil suit and a lack of that might hinder your civil case.

That having been said, I am a dog person, but if my dog ran around killing other domestic animals and other peoples cats I’d be fucking horrified. I understand everyone’s feelings on the subject(well, except for the animal control person and the drunK), but unfortunately, the Law is objective and generally unemotional.

I’m sorry for all you’ve had to go through.

Sam

P.S.- IANAL and the above opinions were rendered as personal, not legal advice to you.

11

Metacom: A defensive dog owner, is what I am taking you to be. The fucking dog was running loose at 10:30pm, first of all. Would you let Metdog out to roam freely at 10:30pm? Second, I put her back in the house when I realized Achmed had escaped and HE LET HER BACK OUT, despite the fact that I tried to ask him to keep her in but he didn’t come to the door, he somehow let her back out. Third, why the FUCK did he let me live there with my cat (and he did know that I had cats when he let me move in) if he knows he has a cat-killing dog? Fourth, it’s lovely of you to be able to defend the tone of voice of a woman who you’ve never met. The Dog Control Officer was most certainly defending my landlord and his dog as fine people who were being unfairly prosecuted/persecuted by me. If you saw my and my cat’s injuries, you’d never defend either of them.

SORRY that I don’t know the proper way to fight off a dog. I never read the memo that said I should know how to do that. I’m 5’0, 120 pounds, and not versed in martial arts nor am I armed or anything. Yes, I FAILED to effectively defeat this dog in unarmed combat, though I tried very hard. Please do rub it in.

I guess I open myself up to this kind of response when I post in the Pit, but hey, I’m quite pissed off and more than willing to defend myself, unlike the night my baby was killed. Go ahead, say whatever you want. I refuse to continue to blame myself (but believe me, I did until very recently, if that helps you to feel better) for what happened nor to exonerate the dog owner. He’s fucking bastard who is negligent in his care for his dog and in his responsibility to his tenant. Fuck him and anyone who defends his horrible behavior.

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Dear Dear RubyStreak

I’m so sorry that your furry buddy is gone. I’ve lost mine two months ago, and it’s such an awful thing to experience. Your OP had me wicked pissed right along with you - until I got to the red angry faces. That’s where I began to cry.

TEN FUCKING DOLLARS!! YOU HEARTLESS BITCH!!! What a horrible horrible thing to say to someone. May her soul rot in everlasting hellfire!!! - and I mean that sincerely.

13

I apologize–clearly, when someone posts a tear-jerker to the barbeque pit, or anywhere else on this board, for that matter, the only proper course of action is to agree completely with them, offer unconditional sympathy, and condemn whomever is irking them has subhuman animals who deserve to be sued for $1.38B dollars, at the very least. Clearly, the only side to the issue is that put forth by the OP–hell, if it was my cat, I’m sure I would see things objectively–and there’s no value at all in trying to understand viewpoints other then your own. It’s so much more healthy and supportive to acknowledge a single point-of-view for all events–going through life calling people “assholes” and “bitches” is a great way to live.

14

I do have a lawyer, and he says that fair market value isn’t really relevant. It’s called “property interest” and courts have given people damages for the loss of a beloved pet that is not “fair market value” because of the love and companionship provide. You can also receive damages because you or your property were harmed by another’s negligence, which I think I can also prove (you let someone live in your house with cats, when you know your dog kills cats-- sounds negligent and GREEDY to me). Also, I am not asking for the value of the cat, because no one in the entire bloody world has enough money to compensate me for him. I am asking for the vet bill, which was only for the emergency room, surgery, and meds… I did not push the vet care past the reasonable point of saving the cat. No extraordinary measures. Still $4000.

In fact, you can, and it has been done. I could give you precedent citations but why bother? I am not asking for that. I am asking for the vet bill and my pain and suffering, for which there is an actual chart to determine said. I am asking much less than that, so I can keep this in small claims court.

I hate to say this, but I am starting to think differently of dog owners and dog lovers based on my experience with all this. This is NOT to say that I am changing my opinion of dogs. I love anything that’s fuzzy and friendly and harmless and can only place limited culpability on an animal. However, more than a few dog lovers, who should know better (like SPCA employees whose job it is to control dog owners) have been crappy and dismissive about this. I’m getting bitter.

15

The extent of your and your cat’s injuries doesn’t change anything–dogs that attack cats aren’t necessarily violent or dangerous animals. Metadog’s prey drive could easily be triggered by a cat, so I’m extremely careful with her. But sometimes even responsible owners have accidents (I’m not saying that the owner of this dog was responsible–I only said that this incident, has described, wasn’t sufficient to label him). Once a dog is fighting, it’s in a state of mind that’s not ammenable to it’s normal reason, and it’s not uncommon for people to get hurt breaking up fights involving otherwise good dogs.

I hear Home Depot is having a special on wrist-sized nails. A few of those, a couple 8x8’s, the attitude in the quote above, and you’re set!

I never criticized you for not knowing how to break up a dog fight. I just said it’s understandable that a dog would injure someone who did it wrong.

Yes, that makes me feel much better. Clearly, my offers of sympathy are just a ruse, and there’s no way I could possibly think that trying to take a more nuanced view of things would help you get through this. Yes–I’m evil, and delight in your suffering. That must be it. :rolleyes:

16

Metacom, I get that you are being sarcastic. Think about it this way; say that someone posts a rant about how a loved one was killed in a car crash right here in the Pit. Do you think that the best thing to do is to post that the crash sounds like it was their fault, or might that be a tad insensitive? Clearly you are within your rights to do so, but that post may be something that you wish to think twice about.

Just because you can do or say something doesn’t mean that you have to. Simply stated, you seem to have misinterpreted the facts of this situation.

17

I have a very sweet dog. Great personality. But that dog occasionally catches and kills frogs in the yard. That dog attempted to kill a baby racoon in the yard.
And that dog will probably kill a cat if she catches one. That is it’s nature.

You are attempting to have a dog killed because the owner was negligient and drinks and propositions you. That is wrong. And any satisfaction you get from your efforts will not change the fact that your cat is dead.

18

If the rant about a loved one killed in a car crash took the form of a “Highway Patrol Officer BITCH–didn’t arrest who I thought was guilty,” then yeah, I probably would both sincerely offer my sympathy (which was the first thing I did in this thread) and then try and point out the other side of the story. When something like this happens, it’s very tempting to try and be a martyr, to paint the entire story in black and white. Ultimately, I think doing so is unhealthy, because reality isn’t black and white, and pretending that it is will only nurture the hatred you feel towards those you’ve villified.

Maybe instead of calling the animal control officer a bitch and going after her it would be best to try and work with her–if this guy has an established history of letting his dog loose, then he is irresponsible (I never said he wasn’t–only that this incident wasn’t sufficient evidence that he was), and he should loose his dog. Try and document that irresponsibility, and present that to the animal control officer. She might be more cooperative because this route wouldn’t get the dog classified has dangerous, which means it has a chance of not being destroyed.

19

county, So, just so that I am clear here, we have a large dog that has demonstrated a propensity for killing other animals (including other people’s cats) with a drunken irresponsible owner that lets it roam the neighborhood, and your position is that nothing needs to be done about this? Interesting.

20

Rubystreak-

My suggestion is one of “the high road”, if you will. One that will hopefully get this chapter closed in your life. I know how valuable your cat was to you, and how painful this will be if you do decide to push forward with a suit. Vet bills and other assorted losses/costs are easier to reclaim than the value of your buddy.

Either way, I wish you the best and hope for your pain to be over with as soon as possible.

Sam