A 5-year-old border collie Australian shepherd mix named Sema had his day in court last week and was ruled “not dangerous” in a unanimous vote by the Lewis County Dangerous Animal Designation board.
The board is tasked with finding whether or not animals — though, they’ve only ever had hearings about dogs — are “dangerous” per the county code, which is defined as inflicting injury or death on a person, domestic animal or livestock without provocation.
Sema the dog’s hearing was related to an incident on June 22 at the Vader home of the dog’s owner, Christina Sanford.
If Sema was ruled “dangerous,” he’d either have to be euthanized or kept under a strict set of rules, such as living in a six-sided enclosure and being muzzled and under the care of an adult at all times when in public. Owners of “dangerous” dogs must also prove that they have property insurance and must post warning signs. Violators may face criminal charges or have their dogs confiscated by Lewis County law enforcement officers.
On June 22, Sanford recalled to the board, she was caring for her young baby who had a diaper blowout. After she put the dog outside in order to deal with an already-chaotic situation, she said, neighbor Doug Missinne, who also lives part-time in Arizona, entered Sanford’s yard through a fence.
“I was changing a newborn baby (who was) screaming, blood-curdling screaming … and threw my dog outside because my dog was getting upset with the baby screaming,” Sanford said. “And then, all of this happened. I was outside dealing with this situation while my baby was laying on the bed. … That’s the only reason I can think why this would have happened. My dog has never been aggressive. My dog goes to dog parks, my dog goes camping.”
Missinne was a friend of Sanford’s grandfather, who owned the house previously. Her grandfather died in September, and Missinne said he hadn’t visited the house since then.
When visiting in June, Missinne had a pen and paper, intending to ask for Sanford’s brother’s phone number. When he previously visited the house, Missinne said, there were dogs but no fence.
Sanford said between her grandfather’s death and June, she’d spent $20,000 on the heavy duty fence, specifically “to retain my dogs there, to keep my dogs in.”
Because she has a newborn baby, people don’t show up to her house unannounced, she added. Since the incident in June, she said she keeps her fences locked.
When Missinne walked in, Sema bit and latched onto his arm. Missinne visited the Veterans Affairs clinic in Olympia, where he normally receives medical care. Caregivers there advised him to go to Providence St. Peter Hospital instead, where he received stitches.
Sanford’s argument was that Sema had been provoked by a stressful and unusual situation, though she didn’t use that exact terminology. She also said the dog was previously trained to disarm intruders with firearms, and that a stranger holding something could have triggered Sema to attack.
The board ruled unanimously that the dog was “not dangerous,” after a short, private deliberation, but did not give a specific reason behind the vote.
