PENNSYLVANIA -- Two dogs that Spadina Parkway neighbors said viciously killed a small dog on June 16 -- and have upset the peace of the area with barking and aggressive behavior -- were ordered permanently restrained by the city Animal Control Commission.
After a two-and-a-half-hour hearing Thursday that heard testimony from the owner, Diane Viggiano of 84 Spadina Parkway, her attorney and several neighbors, the commission declared the animals dangerous dogs under the definition of state law.
They ordered the rottweiler and the beagle mix restrained and specified a 6-foot fenced-in area on the owner's property that is secure to the ground and backed up with an electronic fence Viggiano already is using. The new fence must be installed within 45 days.
The incident that prompted the complaint was an attack by both dogs on a small dog that had come onto Viggiano's property. It died several days later after undergoing extensive care at a veterinarian facility.
Agnes Witkowski of Spadina Parkway said her dog managed to get out of the house and went to the Viggiano property. The rottweiler and beagle were in the yard, behind an electronic restraint line, which is invisible but works through signals sent to a dog's collar when it approaches the fence line.
On the Viggiano property, the two mauled the visitor, and Witkowski said that after spending $1,600 on vet bills, she brought her dog home, but it died soon after of its injuries.
She described the attack as vicious and said both dogs were involved. Witkowski said Viggiano had to pull her dogs from the injured dog, but the owner said she merely had to call them to get them into her house.
Another neighbor said she witnesses the two dogs "flipping this thing up and down like a rag doll," before she realized it was another dog. "It was awful," she said.
Several neighbors testified that the two dogs "barked constantly" and came up to the invisible fence line to bark aggressively at people walking or other dogs.
The barking and aggressive behavior "has changed the complexion of our Spadina Parkway neighborhood. They bark all day and it's not a friendly bark," one man said.
Viggiano moved to the area in April.
Witkowski and others said they are afraid a child could be attacked if it wandered onto the Viggiano property. "This is really why I am pursuing this," Witkowski said. "What happened is a warning. Something is going to happen."
Viggiano said she is sorry the attack occurred, but she doesn't believe it would have happened if the other dog hadn't come onto her property. The dogs have played with other dogs owned by her friends, and with children, without incident, she said.
Viggiano's attorney, Elizbeth Quigley, said the legal definition of a dangerous dog was not met, in part because the dogs were on their own property and behind an electronic restraint.
After considerable debate, commissioners decided to declare both dogs dangerous and began considering ordering them confined in an enclosure, which under the law would have to include a roof and walls embedded in the ground.
However, at Quigley's suggestion, they amended that to have the animals restrained behind a fence at least 6 feet high and also within an electronic fence, to which Viggiano agreed. She said she would place the enclosure in her backyard.
Commissioner Chairman John C. Reynolds said having them away from the street might also lessen the barking, but he said neighbors should file complaints with the city if barking continues.
Off the property, the dogs must be leashed.
(Berkshire Eagle - Aug 2, 2013)
