A dispute is brewing in the Quail Meadow subdivision over a dog that bit two people. Some in the area say the 8-year-old boxer-pit bull mix is aggressive, while his owners say they have proof that he's not.
The dog, named Jack, is being held by Animal Control as the dispute works its way through the city-parish's dangerous animal hearing process.
His owners, Gina DiPietro and Bonnie Blalock, say they think some of the issue is rooted in the fact that they're a younger, same-sex couple living in an older, conservative neighborhood -- though their neighbors deny the dispute stems from homophobia.
"We're just defending our family member," Blalock said. "We're speaking up for him. We're his voice."
The conflict began July 22, when DiPietro and Blalock were out of town and Blalock's sister and nephew were caring for their three dogs. While DiPietro and Blalock say they typically keep their dogs inside except to use the bathroom, and they have two locks on their gate, that day the dogs were left out in the backyard for a couple of hours and managed to get out.
They say their neighbor, Rose Mazerac, has been seen at their gate in the past -- once pushing on it with a rake -- and believe she may have opened the gate, provoked the dogs, or both.
Mazerac told NOLA.com the dogs were loose as she was returning home. Jack bit her three times on the arm, she said, showing photos of puncture wounds. She said she was also bit by Jack in 2012 -- though Blalock said Mazerac was not able to identify the dog that attacked her in that incident, and law enforcement officials didn't take any action then.
Jack was also involved in another case a few years ago, in which DiPietro said he scratched a boy he thought was playing with him.
Mazerac said she believes Jack thinks her yard is his territory, and if he's out he won't let her reach her door without attacking her.
"My concern is that the next time that Jack is able to get out, he's going to kill whoever gets around him," Mazerac said.
This time, after Mazerac was bitten, another neighbor, Dale Carter, came to help. He said he was on the phone with the sheriff's office and they asked him for the address of the house, so he walked down toward the home. He said Jack and DiPietro and Blalock's smaller dog, Monster, then "shot across the street." The small dog bit him on the ankle, while Jack bit him on the arm, requiring three stitches.
"We're concerned about the safety of people here," Carter said. "I want to feel comfortable" walking around the neighborhood.
Another neighbor, Philip Seghers, also told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune that he's seen a dog he believes to be Jack loose and acting aggressively. He said he and his wife were returning home one day in July when he had to chase off the dog, which was growling at them.
After biting Mazerac and Carter in July, Jack was taken to Animal Control, where he was ultimately declared to be a dangerous animal. DiPietro and Blalock said they went through all the hoops required to own a dangerous animal, buying a muzzle and dangerous dog signs, putting a new lock on their gate, and more. But they wanted to appeal the decision to declare him dangerous, which requires a hearing process at City Hall.
While Jack was at the shelter, they asked the staff there to conduct a temperament test -- which he passed with "flying colors," DiPietro said. They have posted video of the test on Facebook, showing a submissive and friendly Jack with his tail wagging as he interacts with people and another dog.
Despite the temperament test, a committee on Aug. 18 denied the appeal, after a large group of neighbors testified that they were frightened of Jack and he had behaved aggressively toward them.
DiPietro said their arguments came out of nowhere -- only the two who were bitten had any evidence that Jack was aggressive, she said.
Then, the couple got word that their neighbors were asking to upgrade Jack's classification to "vicious" -- meaning he would be euthanized. They immediately appealed that.
The appeal hearing was scheduled for Tuesday morning, but was postponed to Sept. 14: DiPietro and Blalock have hired a lawyer, who is now seeking a temporary restraining order from a judge to stop the procedure from moving forward. A decision on that could come on Wednesday, Blalock said.
Meanwhile, DiPietro, Blalock and their family have been visiting Jack at Animal Control, though they're not allowed to take him out or touch him beyond sticking their hands through the bars.
She said their 11-year-old daughter, Alyssa, slept with Jack every night and is "devastated" by the situation. Alyssa's father died in the midst of the dispute, making it even harder on her, DiPietro said.
DiPietro and Blalock said that during the hearings and elsewhere, their neighbors have made comments about them being "renters," "different," and "not a real family" -- leading them to believe that their neighbors don't approve of them being a same-sex couple.
And they said that Hilton Cole, director of Animal Control, was angry at them for requesting the temperament test after he had already declared the dog dangerous, challenging his authority.
Asked for comment last week, Cole said, "our duty is to protect citizens apparently living in fear in their own neighborhood." He said numerous people in the neighborhood had signed a petition requesting the declaration be upgraded to vicious. After the hearing on Tuesday, he said his attorneys had advised him not to comment further on the case at this time.
If Jack loses the appeal to declare him a vicious dog, DiPietro and Blalock can take the case to a district judge.
"We just want our dog back," DiPietro said. "That's it. He doesn't deserve to die over somebody's ego, somebody's homophobia, or somebody discriminating against his breed because he may or may not have pit bull in him."
(NOLA.com - Sept 9, 2015)
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