The classification, which was approved by county Animal Control, a magistrate and a county judge after Marley the dog bit a teenager twice, is requiring Johnothan Jones’ family to pay for a $100,000 insurance policy as well as adhere to caging requirements the family says are expensive, cumbersome and not needed.
Last September the dog bit Jones’ girlfriend’s 15-year-old son, Taylor Freeman, who told a Bay County Animal Control officer he was playing hide and seek with his younger brother when the attack occurred. On Oct. 6, Animal Control received a complaint from Jones’ neighbor that the dog had bitten Freeman again.
Judge Thomas Welch issued a ruling May 26 upholding an arbitrator’s decision that Marley is a “dangerous dog.” But, Welch ruled, the dog should not be euthanized as Bay County officials had requested.
In the latest appeal, the family’s attorney, Jason Johnson, argues Florida law states a dog should not be declared dangerous if the threat, injury or damage from the dog bite was sustained by someone who was lawfully on the property but was “tormenting, abusing, or assaulting the dog or its owner or a family member.”
“The crux of the petitioner’s lay argument to the magistrate was that his dog, Marley, was protecting a family member from a perceived torment or abuse and was therefore entitled to an affirmative defense,” the appeal states. “In the magistrate’s order, the petitioner’s affirmative defense was not addressed in the ruling or subsequent order dated Nov. 13, 2015.”
Johnson previously has argued maintaining the dangerous dog designation is “so restrictive that in and of itself is almost a death sentence.” He said the insurance and enclosure requirements are so onerous that most dog owners end up having to give their animal up for euthanization.
The dog also attacked a dog trainer who was hired to try to work with the dog.
(News Herald - July 1, 2016)
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