Judge Thomas Ryan said he listened carefully to a recording of evidence presented to a hearings officer last summer, and the judge agreed that the hearings officer's decision to remove Noni from Connie Walker's Gresham home was correct.
But immediately after the judge's ruling, a pro bono attorney said Walker will appeal the case to the Oregon Court of Appeals. And the judge agreed that the dog shall stay in Walker's possession until the appeals court rules, which could be more than a year off.
Noni, however, must remain muzzled while out in public or confined to the back room of Walker's home when caregivers or others visit, the judge said.
"The county is very concerned about the dog biting again," David Blankfeld, an assistant attorney with Multnomah County, told the judge.
Walker didn't attend last week's hearing, but she has been distraught about possibly losing her beloved dog. A guardian assigned to look after Walker said she in the past has threatened suicide if her dog is taken from her.
The dog was trained at a guide dog school in Arizona, said Gail O'Connell-Babcock, who has volunteered to help Walker retain ownership rights. O'Connell-Babcock's husband, Robert Babcock, is an attorney and has taken on Walker's case for free.
Caregivers who have visited Walker's home said they have repeatedly been confronted by the dog barking, lunging and growling at them -- and that Walker has refused to confine the animal. Neighbors have complained about Noni's barking.
But Walker's troubles with Multnomah County Animal Services ramped up in February 2014, when an Adventist Medical Center nurse reported the dog bit her hand as it lunged at her face. The nurse said the wound didn't break her skin, but it was sore for a few days.
In August 2014, a man at a Providence medical clinic in Gresham reported he had walked up to a reception counter to sign in when Noni -- who he had seen sleeping seconds earlier at Walker's feet -- suddenly bit his arm.
Walker told Animal Services the man must have done something to provoke her dog, but she couldn't be sure what since she is blind.
Then in January 2015, Noni bit the hand of a TriMet LIFT operator who arrived at Walker's doorstep to give her a ride. The bite broke the skin.
In her dog's defense, Walker said the TriMet driver stepped into her home before the dog bit her. That led to the June 2015 hearing, and hearings officer Linda Beloof ordered the dog removed from Walker's home.
Babcock, Walker's attorney, said his client has been following directives to muzzle and confine the dog for months now.
Babcock told the judge last week he thinks the circumstances that led Noni to bite the TriMet driver aren't clear because the bus driver didn't testify in person during a previous hearing.
Blankfeld, the assistant county attorney, however, said that although the hearings officer didn't hear from the bus driver directly, she correctly relied on four signed statements he'd made describing the dog's unprovoked attack.
"I think there's uncontroverted evidence of what happened that day," Blankfeld said.
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