[nagdu] Bill looks to protect guide dogs in VT

[Ginger Kutsch]

Bill looks to protect guide dogs in Vermont
Rutland Herald, Vermont
Mar 23, 2010
By Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU
MONTPELIER - People whose unrestrained pets attack the guide dogs
of visually impaired Vermonters could face up to a year in
prison, under legislation up for consideration in the Statehouse.
 
The bill, already approved in the House, would for the first time
impose criminal sanctions for reckless interference with guide
dogs. Carolyn Clapper, with the Consumer Advocacy Council of the
Vermont Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired, told
Senate lawmakers Thursday that unleashed, aggressive dogs can
impede the mobility of visually impaired residents.
 
Clapper, who is legally blind, recounted her own experience at
her home in West Charleston, where an aggressive dog attacked her
guide dog, Aladdin.
 
"Two years ago, as I was walking to church, and this dog came out
of nowhere and dove right into Aladdin," Clapper told the Senate
Judiciary Committee. "And of course a fight resulted as Aladdin
tried very hard to protect himself and me."
 
Despite repeated conversations with the dog's owner, Clapper
said, the loose animal continued to harass her dog. Under current
criminal statutes, according to Stan Greenburg, vice president of
the Vermont Council of the Blind, people like Clapper have no
legal recourse to solve the problem.
 
"I don't believe we as guide dog owners are asking for very much
but a quality of life where we don't have to stay confined to our
houses," Clapper said.
 
Greenburg suffered his own horror story while walking with his
guide dog in Burlington. A snarling yard dog jumped into the
sidewalk and took a bite out of his dog's ear. Despite 12
stitches and $250 in veterinary fees, Greenburg said he was
unable to get any compensation from the dog's owner, largely
because Vermont laws don't address the kind of incident he
experienced.
 
Greenburg said he isn't looking to criminalize innocent mistakes,
or to arrest people for simple interference, like petting.
 
"We can handle that. We don't want people petting our guide dogs,
but we can handle it," Greenburg said. "What we are concerned
about is people who have their aggressive dogs loose and put us
and our guide dogs in danger."
 
The bill would amend existing animal cruelty statutes by
including a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison,
for dog owners who repeatedly allow their animals to recklessly
interfere with guide dogs. The criminal sanction would apply only
to dog owners who are warned after a first or second offense. The
bill includes new civil fines for first offenders.
 
"There are no penalties, no redress at this point in Vermont,"
said Greenburg, who said similar legislation has been passed in
about 30 other states. "If I walk down the street and someone
attacks my dog, there is essentially no redress for me to
pursue."
 
Greenburg said the attacks traumatize guide dogs, sometimes to
the extent that they can no longer function effectively.
 
"Schools that train guide dogs . spend about $40,000 per dog on
that training," he said. "Sometimes when these attacks take place
the dog is rendered useless, because he is so afraid he's unable
to do his work."
 
Greenburg said the law is particularly important as more visually
impaired Vermonters take up residence in rural areas.
 
"Vermont isn't the way it was years ago," Greenburg said. "Blind
people walk on country roads, they walk in small towns, we walk
all over the place. It may be that leash laws need to be more
universal than they are, but at the very least we should be
protected from attack."
 
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