A hearing officer has ruled that a 6-pound Chihuahua is a vicious dog after he nipped two children and his owner must buy a $100,000 insurance policy or move him out of the city limits. Squirt bit a child on Aug. 17 to deflect an attempted kiss. He nipped another child who tried to feed him a cracker on Oct. 6. Neither child was seriously injured, but both were taken for treatment.
That's when animal control officers moved to have the 3-year-old Squirt classified as vicious under a city ordinance.
Hearing officer LeAnn Ducey agreed Wednesday, despite a parade of character witnesses who testified earlier this week that Squirt doesn't fit the definition. Besides, owner Laurie Staver said, she can't find a company willing to insure any dog with two bites on his record.
"I realize our dog bit two people, but the point we were trying to get across is that he was provoked," she said.
Squirt, for now, is lying low at the home of a family friend in northern Iowa.
Animal control officers say no one has suggested that Squirt be put to sleep. The worst that could happen is that he will be banished from the city for lack of insurance, although the circumstances of his confinement now become an issue because he is, officially, a vicious animal.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-10-28-bad-doggy_x.htm
That's when animal control officers moved to have the 3-year-old Squirt classified as vicious under a city ordinance.
Hearing officer LeAnn Ducey agreed Wednesday, despite a parade of character witnesses who testified earlier this week that Squirt doesn't fit the definition. Besides, owner Laurie Staver said, she can't find a company willing to insure any dog with two bites on his record.
"I realize our dog bit two people, but the point we were trying to get across is that he was provoked," she said.
Squirt, for now, is lying low at the home of a family friend in northern Iowa.
Animal control officers say no one has suggested that Squirt be put to sleep. The worst that could happen is that he will be banished from the city for lack of insurance, although the circumstances of his confinement now become an issue because he is, officially, a vicious animal.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2004-10-28-bad-doggy_x.htm