Saving Sophie

As most of you are aware, there was an incident back in June of 2009 where Sophie bit an elderly lady walking down the street in front of my house. Sophie was 14 months old, and UTD on vaccinations when this occurred. The lady that was bitten is not pressing charges and this is the first and only time that anything like this has ever happened.

The Dog Constable came to my house the following day and put Sophie in a very small cage, attached to the back of a car and drove away with her. While he was in my yard, I asked what the next steps were, and he informed me, (only after minutes of seeing her), since your dog has bitten someone, she will more than likely be euthanized. He did a 48 hour assessment on her (beginning the assessment only after 2 hours of taking her from my care, and travelling in a cage attached to the back of a car), and put in his report to the town. His conclusion was that she had fear aggression and that she was fearful of her surroundings, and that there is no way to tell how she will react if something scares her. The only option to protect the town was for her to be euthanized. They kept her for 12 days. I was not allowed to see her, and the town would not return her to me. As soon as I got a lawyer, things changed and I had her back home the following day.

For the last 7 months I have done everything in my power to assure the town that something like this will never happen again. I have put in a fence surrounding my yard, we complete weekly training sessions with renounced Animal Behaviorist, Andrew Turner, Sophie is being socialized on a regular basis, and is undergoing desensitizing for the things that she is fearful of. Sophie has made huge improvements and continuously strives to be a balanced dog. Just last week when I took Sophie for a walk, and there were 3 people and 3 dogs that we encountered on the walk, and she walked right by them. She is making improvements every day, and for someone to say, after doing a 48 hours assessment, that she is not trainable, “wired incorrectly” and the only option is euthanasia should not be in the position that he is in. How many other dogs have been put down because of his “authority”?

Because of this bogus report, by an unqualified individual there is a court date set for Feb. 16, 2010 at 1:00PM to decide the fate of Sophie. I am asking from the bottom of my heart that all of my friends please attend the hearing as support for Sophie.