Unlawful ban of family’s dog by Police in Shorewood IL

Over the past couple of months I’ve been dealing with the rehoming of my dog in the aftermath of a vicious dog determination being made against him. This determination was made by Village Of Shorewood police without following correct procedures set forth by ordinance 5-2-13 sections A-I determination of a vicious dog. The ordinance states I was to be offered a hearing prior to the investigation to determine whether or not a vicious dog investigation needed to take place. A hearing where I could’ve had my attorney there, my trainer/dog behavioralist could be present to provide their input. A witness that saw entire incident from start to finish was never contacted, my dogs injuries were never addressed, we were never given the chance to supplement our own evidence, written statements, behavioral evidence from trainer, and/or behavior report as the ordinance clearly outlines. We have all of these things but were never given an opportunity to present any of it. Then, once investigation was over we were never offered an administrative hearing. All of this is also clearly outlined in Shorewood ordinance 5-2-13 sections A-I. My dog was beaten during and after the incident by my neighbor. I have pictures of my dogs injuries from that and the other dog. Nobody ever asked about those nor was I ever given a chance to provide them. Once we received a letter that our dog was deemed vicious we sought the help of an animal rights attorney. We were advised by her to request a hearing so that we could appeal this determination. This hearing was set for September 26, 2019 only because we had to pursue it ourselves. This was one month after my dog was already deemed vicious and banned from Shorewood. At this point he’s been gone since August 1 for the incident occurring on July 28.This incident involved my dog pinning down Our neighbors dog. An incident that did not cause injury to the neighbors dog except one red mark, no punctures to the skin, therefore no bite. I have pictures, I have a vet bills that show where no antibiotics were given, no cleansing of any wound took place. My neighbor brought his dog to the vet one day after the incident. His dog was roaming around their property unharmed the same day after the incident ensued. Four days later a second vet visit occured and x-rays were done. Nothing else was required of me financially because that is the only treatment that happened. I’m sure that if further treatment was needed I would’ve also paid for that. I did reach out to timberline animal Hospital which is the same veterinary clinic that my neighbor brought his dog to and inquired as to what is the standard care for a dog bite. I was told the one wound need to be cleanse/stitched up if need be, and antibiotics need to be administered because of increased risk of infection. Why did this same veterinary clinic not Give this dog who everyone is claiming to be bit by my dog, antibiotics? Here is a picture of both dogs injuries. In my opinion they are pretty equal. While my dog initiated this interaction he did not cause any harm, especially not serious harm. I made arrangements for him to go to a professional trainer for weeks for behavior modification immediately after he was removed from the town For the investigation. My dog pinned my neighbors dog down because my neighbors child walked her dog right up to my fence on a leash where my six-year-old daughter was standing with my dog. My daughter told the 6 year old little girl walking her 75 lb dog unsupervised not to come too close to the fence. There are two dogs that live in the household on the other side of my fence. In the three years we’ve had my dog he’s never gone through that fence. And those dogs have come up to it numerous times. Never an issue. So why did he go through this time? He was protecting my daughter. My dog has been known to protect my kids. I will not fault him for that, But I will take full responsibility for him going through the fence. That was unacceptable and we never thought in 1 million years it would happen. That is why I planned to put fence reinforcements and and E fence up 3 feet in from my fence if need be supplement training as well. My husband reached out to the investigating officer numerous times from August 1 to August 28 to keep him updated on my dogs progress in training, the fact that he was in training, and our plans to secure our yard so this would never happen again. Each time officer Tischina thanked my husband and told him he’d include that in his report. Sadly you won’t find any of this in that report. Any correspondence between us and the police during the investigation was completely OMITTED from the police report. The entire police report about this incident is conversations between my neighbors and police, multiple Visits made to my neighbors home, and my neighbor being pleased that my dog was rehomed. The report states my husband called officer Tischina right after the incident to let him know that we rehomed our dog and August 1. That was false information. My dog was sent to live with my sister in another town so he didn’t have to sit at a veterinary office in a cage for the month long investigation that Was to ensue.

So needless to say on September 27, 2 months after the incident and one month after vicious dog ruling was made our first hearing we were ever provided took place. There was no neutral party present. It was my husband, me, my trainer and my attorney. Up against Deputy Chief Eric Allen and the village attorney Bryan Wellner. we were strong-armed into signing an agreement that our dog could never come back to Shorewood and he is deemed vicious. It was also at this hearing officer Alan refused to show us pictures or vet bills from my neighbors dog. Bills we were paying for. He also stated They were wanting to deem my dog vicious based on this incident alone. He said and I quote the first incident has nothing to do with this. yes there was a first incident. I will touch on that shortly. So why is my dog being deemed vicious based on one red mark on another dog, not even a bite? We were told by Officer Alan that if we pursue any further legal action he would push for the maximum penalty/fines including euthanasia. Needless to say we went along with the agreement as to not have our dog killed. I mentioned first incident because that was the second time my dog pinned down another dog. The first time his leash got out of my husband’s hands and he pinned down a small dog from down the street. He also did not cause any major injury. Minor injuries were treated per dogs veterinary bills. After that incident my dog was only let out to our fence yard to go to the bathroom to ensure this would never happen again. It was during this investigation we contacted police multiple times inquiring as to what the determination was on our dog. It wasn’t until several months later we were told verbally over the phone that our dog was deemed dangerous. No preliminary hearing, no guidelines given after ruling, no appeal options, no further information was given. So here we are 2 for 2 for dog investigations not being handled accordingly in reference to town ordinances. SIDENOTE: that upon reviewing my dogs medical records I see that the Shorewood police told my veterinary clinic after first incident that my dog killed that dog and bit my husband neither of those statements is true so now I have lies in my dogs medical records (legal documents) told by the Shorewood police. I had to contact the veterinary office and have this information amended. It’s still in his records but is now amended at the end to correct false information originally reported. I also had to correct the police referring to my dog as being a pitbull on numerous occasions. My dog has never been classified as a pitbull. He’s an American bulldog. But I feel that shouldn’t matter, something tells me it does in this case. I am hoping to shed some light on the major mishandling is an bias that took place in this case. I’m hoping to do so so that this doesn’t happen to another family in Shorewood. There are many holes in this case. I have only outlined a few. Why this vendetta against my family pet? Sure, these are animals, but these are family members. And when your family member is kicked out of a town for something so minor, you fight for his rights. This was an unjust unlawful ruling. And I will stand by that and continue to seek answers and make sure actions are taken so no one else’s family has to go through this. I would like to see my dog back home with a plan in place for his continued success as he has displayed in training. I would like to see the individuals responsible for a dogs fate in these matters be fair, unbiased and follow protocol. What’s it going to take for change?