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The fate of a 30 lb. 5-year old Labradoodle named Jack is in limbo when after nearly three hours of testimony, his dangerousness hearing was continued.
The Select Board met Wednesday, July 9 for a dangerous dog hearing after Alexandra Murphy filed a complaint against Jack, who bit her 6-year-old son.
The fact that the Spence family’s dog bit the Murphy boy is not in dispute.
“I've gotten to know the Spences pretty well and their dog bit a child, there’s no doubt about that,” said Attorney Jeremy Cohen, who represented the Spences at the hearing.
According to Officer Giacomo Contoni, who took the initial report, on May 12, Murphy’s son threw a ball over a roughly 4 foot fence into the neighboring backyard then opened a gate and went into the Spence’s backyard to retrieve it.
Isole Spence said she was on the deck with one of her sons and Jack, the family dog, and didn’t see the boy enter the property, but she heard a noise that startled both her and Jack. Spence said the dog took off down the stairs ahead of her and when she reached the boy, she witnessed Jack bite the boy on the back of his knee, leaving behind, what she described as, two small puncture wounds.
Contoni said Murphy did not witness the incident, but heard her son screaming and found her son and the dog in the neighbor’s backyard.
Spence said she and her son and Murphy took the boy home, where they calmed the boy down and applied two Band Aids, one for each puncture wound. Spence said she learned later the boy received eight or nine stitches, which surprised her considering the size of the wounds.
Since the incident, Spence said they have put a lock on the gate into the yard and hired a trainer to work not only with the dog, but the entire family to ensure nothing like this happens again.
The process
The board heard testimony from Winchester Animal Control Officer Edward O’Connell, Contoni and commentary from Police Chief Dan O’Connell. They also heard from Emilio Marotta, a senior master dog trainer with Lorenzo’s Dog Training Team, hired by the Spences after the incident, as well as Isole and Jesse Spence, Jack’s owners.
Cohen had rested his case when Town Counsel Stephen Chaplin, who is overseeing the hearing, had to stop it just short of three hours in because he had another meeting he had to preside over.
When the hearing picks up Wednesday July 16 at 4 p.m., Chaplin said he expects Murphy and at least one or two others will testify.
Select Board members, who have all had a chance to ask questions during the hearing thus far, will then have to decide whether Jack is a dangerous dog or a nuisance dog or neither.
Cohen said he didn’t believe Jack was either, but he knew, given the mood of the neighborhood, that such a ruling from the board would not go over well.
If the attack is considered to be a grossly disproportionate reaction, Jack could be found to be dangerous, said Chaplin during an explanation of the process on Tuesday.
Chaplin said if the dog is found to be dangerous then state statute says the board shall order one or more of seven specific measures which span mandatory leashing, confinement, muzzling, microchipping and in the most extreme cases, euthanasia. If, however, the dog is found to be a nuisance then the board can issue unspecified remedial actions.
Testimony
Marotto said he has been working with Jack and the Spence family implementing structures and protocols aimed at calming the dog’s anxieties and excitement and teaching all family members “how to take an active, participatory role in being their dog’s leader.”
“I want to unequivocally, undeniably, without question, let everybody know, Jack is not an aggressive, dangerous dog, nor is he a nuisance dog,” Marotta said. “When he’s managed properly, like any dog managed properly, the outcomes are much, much better than when they’re left to their own devices.”
Cohen agreed.
“The disposition is that this is not a dangerous dog, and this is an incident on its property,” he said. “In most towns, this would never have gotten to this level.”
Cohen read a portion of a letter dated May 30 and submitted to the board from the Murphys that said the Spences had not acknowledged the attack or demonstrated any concern for community safety, but Isole Spence said that wasn’t true.
She said in the week that followed, she was in text communication with Murphy and approached her in person to tell her they would no longer walk Jack past their home. She also wrote a letter to the Murphys dated May 25.
Jesse Spence, who had been out of town when the incident occurred, said when he got home on Friday, he immediately went to speak to the family. By Saturday, however, communications had been cut off and Isole Spence said the Murphys asked them to re-home the dog.
Isole Spence said she and her sons cried at the thought of giving up Jack, who they’d had since he was a puppy and considered part of the family.
“I understand it was traumatic and emotional, but it was also hard for us,” she said.
Cohen asked Isole Spence if she had anything to say to the Murphys now, since they felt they had yet to hear from the family.
“It was an accident, accidents happen and I’m so sorry that it happened,” Spence said. “I’m doing everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Spence said the dog is now crated whenever he is in the house alone, he is never outside alone, he stays when told to stay and is leashed and put in his crate whenever someone comes to the door. She said he’s no longer even allowed to put his head out the window when he rides in the car, something he loved to do.
Spence said she’s happy to do this because they don’t want another incident and also because she wants Jack to be relaxed. She doesn’t want him barking every time someone comes to the door.
“I don't want him to be anxious that something’s always going to happen,” she said. “It’s actually relieving to all of us to know that he’s relieved.”
And the Spences are doing one more thing to make sure the neighborhood is safe from Jack. They’re moving.
“They’ve been so ridiculed in the neighborhood. The vitriol that has been heaped on them by this neighborhood is embarrassing,” Cohen said. “They’re going to move so this way their neighbors don’t ever have to worry about Jack again.”
Only once did Isole Spence indicate the Murphys might take some responsibility in the incident when she suggested people not let their kids go into hers or anyone’s backyard.
The Select Board will hear Murphy’s side of the incident when the hearing is taken back up July 16.
