NEW HAMPSHIRE -- A local woman has been charged with keeping dangerous dogs after her two unrestrained pets ran into the road and attacked a golden retriever being walked by its owner, according to York Animal Control Officer Larry McAfee.
Twinkle, the golden retriever, suffered serious injury and was treated by a veterinarian, McAfee said.
Patricia Spadafora, 60, 19 Greenacre Drive, also was charged with an ordinance violation, failure to control dogs, according to McAfee.
She was issued the summons on both charges Feb. 7 for the attack that allegedly occurred in front of her home at about 8:45 p.m. Feb. 2, according to McAfee.
Unprovoked, Spadafora's boxer-mix named Jewelz, 11, and her hound-like catahoula named Daisy, 7, attacked the golden retriever, according to McAfee.
"One dog got Twinkle by the throat," he said.
The two dogs pulled the golden retriever to the ground on its back and "kept biting," McAfee said.
Twinkle suffered puncture wounds and bruises, he said.
Spadafora disputes the puncture wounds, according to comments she made Friday.
McAfee said Twinkle's owner, who was not identified, also was bitten on the ankle in the fray, but the bite did not puncture the skin.
Spadafora is scheduled to appear in York District Court on March 20 to answer to the charges. She faces a $100 to $500 fine on the charge of failure to control dogs, and a $250 to $1,000 fine on the charge of keeping dangerous dogs, McAfee said. The court could also mandate muzzling and tethering, he said, but would likely not order the dogs be put down for a first offense, though that is allowed under the state statute.
Spadafora said Friday that a number of unfortunate circumstances led to the incident.
The woman walking Twinkle, whom she does not know, came around the corner fairly quickly, said Spadafora, who was in the yard with the dogs at the time. An electric fence in the yard was not on, she said.
"It was my mistake, they were startled," she said. "It was dark. They had lights on their collars."
Spadafora said when the dogs ran into the street, their collars aglow, the other woman's reaction was to swing her arms and scream.
"She kind of spooked them," Spadafora said.
Jewelz is old and would not have attacked, but Spadafora admitted Daisy's instinct, as a herding type of dog, would have been to grab by the scruff of the neck.
"It was all of 13 seconds, it was not serious injuries," she said, adding, "(the woman) walked away with the dog."
Her dogs are now restrained, said Spadafora. No one has ever been bitten by the dogs, she said.
She fears the judge will order them muzzled, or worse, saying that if the court mandates them to be euthanized, "you might as well shoot me through the heart."
(Seacoastonline.com - Feb 20, 2013)
