But on Aug. 12, the pit bulls -- Lilo and Stitch -- broke through an adjoining fence when a family friend forgot to bring them inside, allowing them to charge at the Soluris' next-door neighbor, who was in her back yard with her 6-month-old puppy.
Afraid that the dogs were going to attack her, Leslie Miller called animal control to report the loose dogs, leading to the dogs being seized Sept. 22 and declared dangerous five days later. The dogs, once at the city's animal shelter, are now under the care of a veterinarian.
[Many cities and counties have dangerous dog ordinances on their books. It protects people and their pets by saying the offending dog does NOT have to attack anyone or any pet before something is done.
Simply being off their property and behaving in an aggressive manner is enough for a judge to put restrictions on the dog. It allows the owner to keep the offending dog, but basically tells them, 'Hey you haven't been responsible. Play by these rules and you can keep your dog.']
"I've made it a vigilant point to make sure my dogs are well socialized and well trained. The pit bulls have been an underdog in the media," Rana Soluri said, describing how the dogs are a part of her family and companions for her daughter.
The Soluris are fighting to get their dogs back, and they want to appeal the dangerous dog designation, but they've discovered that the process established by Texas lawmakers when adopting laws concerning dangerous animals is improperly dumping them into county criminal courts instead of municipal courts.
"It's an unfortunate situation, but the Legislature has known about it for a while," said Assistant City Attorney Gerald Pruitt. "People are unhappy when we tell them that, but we don't make laws for the state. We pass ordinances based on state law."
Definitions
Scott Hanlan, assistant director of code compliance in Fort Worth, said there are two definitions of a dangerous dog: if a dog is outside of an enclosure and bites or attacks a person or animal, and if a dog that is loose acts in a threatening manner and a person has a reasonable belief or fear of being attacked.
Under the city ordinance a dangerous dog eventually could be euthanized if the owners don't comply with regulations for owning this type of animal, including the posting of warning signs and making sure that the dogs are in a sturdy enclosure or on a leash. They also have to pay a fee to the city and have an insurance policy.
Randy Turner, an attorney who handles cases on animal issues, said the 2nd Court of Appeals ruled that the county criminal court does not have jurisdiction because dangerous dog determinations are civil matters. The State Bar of Texas section on animal law drafted a bill that would give county courts of law authority to hear such cases.
"Some of us are of the opinion that this is an unconstitutional denial of equal protection," Turner said.
Richard Rosenthal, an attorney with the Lexus Project, a New York-based organization that represents dangerous dog owners, said he is working with the Soluris and added that people throughout the country have been wrongfully convicted of owning a dangerous dog.
Feuding neighbors
Rana Soluri said she moved into her home in the Villages of Woodland Springs subdivision near Alliance Airport six years ago and has had an ongoing feud with her neighbor. She said the dogs are usually inside, and she goes outside with her dogs.
But Rana Soluri said she was having car trouble that day and asked a friend to let her dogs out. The friend forgot to bring the dogs back into the house, which is when the trouble started.
She said that when animal control officers came, she was cited for having loose dogs, but she was not told that the animals were dangerous.
But Miller painted a different picture, describing how the dogs broke through her fence three times, once scratching at her bedroom window while she slept. Miller said she has two children and two puppies.
"I had enough. I reported it to animal control," Miller said.
(star-telegram.com - Oct 17, 2012)
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