A dog owned by a man living at a Toledo address was declared dangerous last week after a report that it killed another dog belonging to his neighbors.
The Lewis County Dangerous Animal Designation (DAD) Board heard the case of a large Alaskan malamute that allegedly severely injured a small dog, leading to that smaller dog's death on Monday, Dec. 1.
After roughly an hour of proceedings, with owners of both dogs testifying, the board ruled the giant Alaskan malamute named Max is officially considered dangerous under county law.
The couple who owned the smaller dog, a chihuahua-Jack Russell terrier mix named Rascal, testified during the hearing that their dog had been bitten by their neighbor's dog and died of his wounds less than 24 hours later.
The owner of the malamute claimed that his dog had been provoked by the small dog and one of the residents of the home.
According to an official report from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, Lewis County Community Service Officer RJ Wheeler responded to a report of a vicious dog at a Toledo address at around 8 a.m. on Nov. 17. Less than an hour later, Wheeler spoke with one of Rascal’s owners over the phone.
The man, Trampas Justin Downes, was apparently away on a hunting trip but was in constant contact with his wife, Chastity Maduah Coffman, who was present at the time of the incident. The man claimed he had also watched what happened on a security camera he and his wife had installed outside of their house.
Downes told Wheeler that he had received a call from his wife in the morning two days earlier, Nov. 15, that the neighbor's dog, Max, had escaped a fenced-in yard and bit his dog.
According to the report and Coffman’s testimony during the later hearing, she exited the house to scare off the large dog and send him back to his own property. When doing so, her own dog exited the house and approached the large dog before being bitten and shaken around in the malamute’s mouth.
“I heard the attack,” Coffman said. “I heard my dog scream, and by the time I got around, Max had dropped my dog, and my dog was starting to come toward me, and I yelled at him to go home.”
Coffman said the owner of the large malamute, Robert Edward Smith, shortly after helped to get his dog back onto its own property. She added that she quickly took her dog to the vet for treatment.
Rascal received stitches for three large wounds that were a result of the bite. The wounds are shown in a photo of the dog after he died. Coffman said that Rascal was discharged after he was stitched up and received a range of tests at the vets office.
Despite the treatment, Rascal reportedly died early the next morning, Nov. 16, at around 2 a.m.
According to Wheeler’s report, he first made contact in-person with Smith on the morning of Nov. 17 at around 10:30 a.m. At the time, Smith reportedly said someone had trespassed on his own property the night before the incident and left a gate open, allowing his dog to escape. He stated that he and his dog should not be held responsible and said that the dog was just “protecting his property.” Smith repeated this defense during the later hearing in front of the county’s DAD Board.
Wheeler reported that he explained to Smith at the time that, according to the witness reports and the evidence he had seen, the dog was on a neighbor's private property at the time of the incident, making Max at fault for the attack. Before leaving the property, Wheeler took a photo of Max, cited Smith for an animal-at-large violation and informed the man that he would be referring the case to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office and the DAD Board.
During the hearing, both parties testified to the events that had occurred and confirmed the events that were reported in the report filed by Wheeler. Smith attempted to prove that his dog was not dangerous by providing character references and explaining the extenuating circumstances of the situation. However, chair of the DAD board Chuck Snipes informed Smith that the dog's history was irrelevant to the case.
The dog was finally declared dangerous unanimously by the board after being found to have killed a domestic animal while at-large or off the owner’s property.
That is one of three circumstances that qualifies a dog as dangerous in Lewis County.
The DAD Board is a five-person citizen panel established in 2018 to enhance public participation and provide an impartial review of cases involving dangerous or potentially dangerous animals.
The board holds hearings to determine whether an animal meets the criteria for a dangerous designation. If an animal is declared dangerous, the owner must comply with strict requirements on enclosures, signage and other safety measures, or they must pursue euthanasia of the animal.
Hearings are held as needed based on the number of cases received. The board typically meets once a month or so.
