[nagdu] Blind woman ordered to give up guide dog after it bites 3 strangers

[melissa R green]

Hmm, something is obviously
going on with this dog.  I am
sure there is more to the
story.  

Warmly,
Melissa R. Green and Pj
It is 'where we are' that
should make all the
difference, whether we believe
we belong there or not. 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu
[mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.o
rg] On Behalf Of Steven
Johnson via nagdu
Sent: Sunday, November 15,
2015 1:27 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the
National Association of Guide
Dog Users
Cc: Steven Johnson
Subject: [nagdu] Blind woman
ordered to give up guide dog
after it bites 3 strangers

Blind woman ordered to give up
guide dog after it bites 3
strangers


This photo shows a bite wound
on the hand of Lynn Spuhler, a
TriMet LIFT
operator who told
investigators that a guide
dog, Noni, attacked him when
he
showed up at owner Connie
Walker's door in Gresham in
January 2015. Spuhler
was there to give a ride to
Walker and her dog.

Aimee Green | The
Oregonian/OregonLive


on November 13, 2015 at 3:10
PM, updated November 13, 2015
at 3:18 PM 

Multnomah County Courts

Blind woman ordered to give up
guide dog after it bites 3
strangers

A 65-year-old blind woman
fighting to keep her beloved
certified guide dog
has asked a Multnomah County
Circuit judge to reverse an
order severing her
ownership rights to the German
shepherd mix named Noni.

In July, hearings officer
Linda Beloof decided that the
dog should be
removed from Connie K.
Walker's Gresham home for good
after the dog bit
three strangers -- a nurse, a
patient at a Gresham medical
clinic and a
TriMet bus driver -- over the
course of a year from February
2014 to January
2015.

The ruling came after
Multnomah County Animal
Services reported that Walker
has repeatedly refused to
follow previous directives to
muzzle the dog while
out in public or confine the
dog to a back room of her home
when caregivers
visit.

The case has put Animal
Services, the hearings officer
and now a Multnomah
County Circuit judge in the
unenviable position of
deciding whether to strip
a disabled woman of her
service animal.

"This is a very difficult and
unfortunate situation," the
hearings officer
wrote. "I am reluctant to take
Noni away from Ms. Walker; I
also understand
the County's concern that the
public needs to be kept safe
from Noni."

The case won't be argued
before Multnomah County
Circuit Judge Thomas Ryan
until December at the
earliest.




 In the meantime, Walker's
attorney has won a temporary
order stopping
Animal Services from taking
Noni from her home.

Walker hadn't been muzzling
Noni because she thought it
sent the message
that the dog was vicious when
it's not, said her lawyer,
Robert Babcock of
Lake Oswego.

"That has been her view --
that basically people should
know better than to
pat or reach down or approach
suddenly working dogs,"
Babcock said. "She
didn't want to use the
muzzle."


But ever since the order to
remove the dog, Walker has
followed the
restrictions "whether she
likes it or not," Babcock
said.

If Walker loses Noni, it's
unclear if she could get
another accredited guide
dog. It's also unclear what
would happen to the dog.
Beloof, the hearings
officer, has increased its
classification from a "Level 3
potentially
dangerous dog" to the county's
highest caution category,
"Level 4
potentially dangerous dog."

A Level 4 dog seized by
officials isn't automatically
euthanized, said
Jackie Rose, Animal Services
director. The dog could go to
a new home if an
evaluation shows adoption
would work, but it would have
to wear a muzzle in
public, among other
restrictions, she said.

"It's not a life sentence or a
death sentence, by any means,"
Rose said of
Level 4 dogs. "Our goal is to
not euthanize. Our goal is to
place as many
animals as we possibly can."

Rose declined to comment
further about Walker's case
because it's pending.

Babcock declined a request to
interview his client.

But records show that Animal
Services has struggled with
what to do about
Walker and her dog as reports
mounted of Noni's concerning
behavior.

According to the case file, a
deputy public guardian with
Multnomah County
Aging and Disability Services
said caregivers who dispense
medications to
Walker at her home or visit to
check on her well-being have
repeatedly been
confronted by the dog barking,
lunging and growling at them
-- and that
Walker has refused to confine
the animal.

"Ms. Walker will not give
'Noni' up voluntarily, even
threatening suicide,"
states a summary of the
guardian's statements.

The guardian also reported
that Walker said the dog has
bitten her in the
face.

Two medical providers have
refused to treat Walker if she
brings her dog
along to appointments.
Neighbors also have complained
about Noni's barking.

Walker's troubles with Animal
Services ramped up in February
2014, when a
nurse at Adventist Medical
Center reported that Walker
and her dog had been
brought to the Southeast
Portland hospital by
ambulance. The two had been
placed in a room and at first,
"Noni was very sweet to me,
jumping onto my
shoulders and licking my face,
tail wagging," wrote nurse
Mary French.

But the nurse wrote that Noni
later aggressively barked and
lunged at three
other staff members, then
scratched the back of her hand
and lunged toward
her face. The wound didn't
break the nurse's skin, but it
was sore for a few
days.

Walker's side of the story
wasn't included in records
submitted to the
court. She received a "notice
of infraction" from Animal
Services and
ordered to muzzle the dog in
public and keep it in another
room when
caregivers visited her home.
She also was warned that new
violations could
result in loss of ownership,
according to the case file.

In August 2014, a man at a
Providence medical clinic in
Gresham reported
that he had walked up to a
reception-area counter to sign
in when Noni --
who he had seen sleeping
seconds earlier at Walker's
feet -- suddenly bit
his arm. The man, Merle
Schnackenberg, said he did
nothing to agitate the
dog.

Walker told Animal Services
that the man must have done
something to provoke
her dog, but she couldn't be
sure what that was because she
couldn't see.

Then in January, Noni bit a
TriMet LIFT operator in the
hand after he
arrived at Walker's doorstep
to give her a ride. The
operator, Lynn Spuhler,
wrote that the dog was barking
when Walker opened the door.
Walker asked the
operator to take her bag, and
when he touched the bag, the
dog started
barking even more.

"The dog started to settle
down and I said let me have
him sniff my hand,
when I held my hand out he
sniffed it then lunged and
before I could pull it
back he bit me," Spuhler
wrote.

Walker added to the dog's
agitation, he wrote. "Instead
of being calm with
the dog she was yelling at it,
jerking on his lead violently,
hitting him,"
he wrote. The bite broke his
skin and was bleeding.

In her dog's defense, Walker
said the TriMet driver stepped
into her home
before the dog bit her.

"They're not supposed to step
in," said Babock, Walker's
attorney.

Animal Services cited Walker
in each of the three cases.
That led to a June
hearing and Beloof's July
order revoking Walker's
ownership.

Walker is getting free legal
assistance from Babcock.
Babcock's wife, Gail
O'Connell-Babcock, learned of
Walker's situation through her
nonprofit
called Watchdog and offered
her husband's legal services.

For years, Watchdog has
vocally criticized euthanasia
by Animal Services.
The organization states its
mission as "Protecting pets
and people from
Oregon's animal control
agencies."

-- Aimee Green

agreen at oregonian.com


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