Ohio: Pit bull owner turns in "decoy dog" after brutal attack

OHIO -- An Ohio man is in jail after trying to trick the court and get around an order to euthanize his pit bull after it attacked a therapy dog and his owner.

Jason Dotson stood before the same court that ordered him to take his pet to the SPCA and have it put down humanely.  Instead, prosecutors say  the "defendant brought a dog that wasn't his dog, said it was his dog, and turned that over to the SPCA so they would destroy an innocent dog that hadn't done anything to anybody."

Luckily, the SPCA recognized the dog and said Dotson adopted it about a week earlier.  The attack happened at a local park.  Buddy the therapy dog was nearly killed when the pit bull tore into his abdomen.  His handler was also injured.

Rob Martin, Buddy's handler, is glad he survived.  "He visits hospice patients for Hospice of Southwest Ohio. He brings a lot of joy to people, you know, toward the end of their lives."

 

 

As for his reaction to Dotson's attempted deception, "I don't wish the man ill, but you know, we were just so afraid that one of the children in the neighborhood would get attacked also."

Judge Brad Greenberg was less forgiving:  "It's one thing, Mr. Dotson, for you to ignore a court order.  It's quite another thing to try to perpetrate a fraud on this court.  In my ten years as a judge, I can't recall a more cold and heartless act."

After the judge found him guilty, Dotson was immediately handcuffed and led out of court to begin serving a 28-day jail sentence.

The decoy dog, a pit bull mix named Baby, will be getting a second chance at adoption this week.

(WPXI - Jan 20, 2016)