Resident dog vs. family dog
What is the difference between a “resident dog” and a “family dog?”
Abuse, neglect, cruelty in Ohio:
March 2010:
HAMILTON — A Hamilton man accused of dumping a pregnant dog in the snow was arraigned on March 3, in Hamilton Municipal Court.
Darryl Lawson, 45, was cited on misdemeanor charges of abandonment, abuse to a companion animal and failure to restrain. The beagle mix dog — now named Valentine — whelped seven puppies after being dumped last month. The emaciated dog had snuggled up to a hay roll on a St. Clair Twp. farm, where she delivered her pups when they were discovered Feb. 10 by the property owner following a snowstorm, according to the Butler County dog warden.
December 2009: Lorain – A horrific case of animal abuse was discovered inside a home in Lorain. Officers were called to the Eagle Avenue home on Christmas Day. According to police, a woman asked a neighbor to call police after she claimed her ex-husband kicked in her back door and stole items.
While checking outside the house, the officers spotted two adult dogs and a puppy in an outside run. According to police, all three dogs were emaciated and appeared to be starving to death.
The police report states that when questioned about the open wounds on the female Great Dane, the woman claimed the two adult dogs fought over food the last time she fed them. The report also states that the kennel floor was covered with dog feces so thick that the animals had no choice but to step in it. There was no food or water, nor any insulation inside the kennel itself that would allow the dogs to stay warm.
The 27-year-old woman was arrested on three counts of cruelty to animals. She was taken to Lorain County Jail. The dogs were confiscated and taken to a local veterinarian for treatment.
October 2009: Hamilton – A Butler County animal rescue group said a man has been charged after his adult pit bull dog was found wandering the streets in Middletown weighing only 33 pounds. The Animal Friends Humane Society said the dog also had sores on its rear when it was found Oct. 27. The Butler County dog warden has charged Joseph Pulley of Trenton with cruelty to animals.
“This is the fourth case of severe animal cruelty we have seen in the past month.” Meg Stephenson, executive director for Animal Friends Humane Society, said in a news release. “These animals are helpless victims, and it is unfathomable how a person could allow their pet to starve right before their eyes. If people are not able to care for their animals anymore, they need to do the right thing and either find a new, loving home for them or bring them to us so that we can provide for them. There is no excuse for an animal to suffer like this.”
Stephenson said two of the three cruelty cases involved 10-month-old puppies, one of which only weighed 3.7 pounds upon entry. The other was a shepherd mix that weighed 26 pounds upon arrival, and left three weeks later weighing over 40 pounds. Both have been adopted. The third cruelty case came from Middletown and involved a dog that was chained in a basement and starved to death, Stephenson said.
The pit bull, now named “Josie,” is being treated onsite at Animal Friends Humane Society.
June 2009: Columbus - A firefighter admits that he took his two dogs to the basement, tied them up and blasted them with a rifle so he could vacation without paying to board them. David Santuomo, 43, pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of animal cruelty and one count of possession of a criminal tool. Prosecutors say he taped a 2-liter plastic bottle onto the gun as a makeshift silencer.
He was convicted of “needlessly killing … a companion animal” on Dec. 3 before vacationing with his girlfriend. One dog was shot six times in the head; the Columbus Dispatch reports that he bragged about the shootings to fellow firefighters. Santuomo, who did not give a statement in court, will spend 90 days in jail, pay $4,500 to cover the cost of his investigation and serve five years’ probation, Judge Harland Hale ruled.
“This is a travesty and abhorrent behavior to those in this community who work to save the lives of animals,” said Jodi Buckman, executive director of the Capital Area Humane Society. Santuomo adopted the two mixed-breed dogs from the Humane Society in January 2007.
June 2008: Columbus - A pit bull mix died after becoming frightened during a thunder storm. The dog was chained outside and the chain became entangled around his neck, strangling him to death.
March 2008: Middletown - A man and his adult son were arrested for neglect after their pit bull (photo above) died within hours after being rescued by authorities. The malnourished dog had been chained in the backyard of the home and was suffering from severe neurological distress. The dog’s head was shaking so badly that staff members of the Animal Friends Humane Society in Trenton were not able to feed it. Saddened staff members described the dog as ”sweet.”
March 2008: Ashtabula County - Orlando Franklin pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals, was fined $500, and was ordered to pay $5,000 to reimburse the county for the cost of taking care of the animals he abused. Franklin had been neglecting more than a dozen pit bull dogs in his care. The dogs were found on his property, chained and dehydrated, some with scars on their legs, chest and ears. He managed to escape jail time.
March 2008: Malta — Morgan County’s dog warden was expected to report to county commissioners that he was being put on administrative leave after being accused of shooting animals and disposing them near a river. Jeff Driggs showed up early and left quickly without saying a word.
“I think that he did believe that was a proper method of disposal,” said Commissioner Rich Shriver. Members of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals came to the Morgan County dog pound after receiving tips that euthanized animals were being disposed of improperly. The SPCA found several bones, skulls and shallow graves behind the pound.
In 2002, Driggs also came into problems and compromised the community’s trust, Shriver said. “I want to make it clear we do not shoot dogs,” Shriver said. “That was an issue in Morgan County in 2002 and that is no longer the case.”
December 2006: Hamilton County - Dollar Bill was a bloody mess by the time Shawn Matthews was done with him. The pit bull lost a Dec. 30, 2006, dogfight in Walnut Hills and was rewarded by having his owner, Matthews, throw the battered dog over a fence in a park.
“When he dropped the dog in the park, it was badly bleeding and could barely stand,” Michael Gabrielson, a sergeant with the Kettering, Ohio, Police Department, testified in a Hamilton County courtroom.
Dollar Bill was deemed by a veterinarian to be in such bad shape that when he was found a few hours later, he was euthanized. That was the key testimony in the criminal case against Terry “O.G.” Kendrick, 47, of College Hill.
Kendrick is the last defendant in a major dogfighting ring in Southwest Ohio. He is charged in Hamilton County with six counts each of dogfighting and trafficking in marijuana and two counts of possession of marijuana.
Kendrick was one of 19 people indicted a year ago in Hamilton County on related dogfighting and drug-trafficking charges. The charges were just some of the cases against the group, some of whose members faced charges from the Dayton, Ohio, area as well as federal charges.
Kendrick, who Gabrielson testified was the referee in the vicious fight that ended with Dollar Bill’s death, is the last defendant in Hamilton County to face charges. Seventeen others have been convicted. One had charges dismissed.
Gabrielson told jurors that Dec. 30, 2006, he went to a Walnut Hills business in the 2500 block of Reading Road. In the basement of that building, Gabrielson and 40 or so spectators paid $20 each to get into the dogfights. Gabrielson said he saw at least four dogs and watched as Kendrick refereed the fight involving Dollar Bill as spectators – and bettors – sat on church pews to watch the action. “Kendrick was in the pit and acted as a referee in the fight,” Gabrielson said.
Kendrick already has pleaded guilty in federal court to dogfighting, conducting an illegal gambling business and being a felon with a gun. Kendrick, a father of 12, was convicted of drug charges in Hamilton County in 1994.
Matthews, the owner of Dollar Bill, was convicted in February of three counts of dogfighting.
The task force made 56 arrests in Southwest Ohio, Gabrielson said.
March 2006: Columbus - A 27-year-old woman with six children admitted she abused a dog so badly it died. Mellissa Grier pleaded no contest to animal cruelty. In January, Franklin County Animal Control had found Grier’s emaciated pit bull in a dumpster behind her apartment. The dog weighed 21 lbs. at the time of its death. Grier was sentenced to five years probation and ordered not to own or care for any animals during the probation period.
April 2005: Franklin County - Sheriff’s deputies shut down a dog fighting operation on the west side of Columbus. The home were authorities believe dog fights were taking place was a duplex in a working-class west side neighborhood. But what investigators say happened in this duplex amounts to nothing less than torture. Investigators also found drug paraphernalia along with pistols, shotguns, machine guns and ammunition inside. In the backyard they found even more signs of torture and suffering, including heavy chains tied tightly to trees. Detectives removed several dogs from the premises, at least two of which had horrendous injuries.
People who fight dogs:
Dog fighting, possession of dogs for fighting and being a spectator at a dogfight are all 4th degree felonies in Ohio.
National Canine Research Council