A Masontown woman whose dogs were attacked on her porch by a neighbor’s loose dogs talked with the town council about the problem at its most recent meeting.
The dogs got loose from a home at the end of Orchard Lane, attacking both of Barbara Bachman’s dogs on her porch, Mayor James Cottrell said.
Bachman took her dogs — Sparky and Bailey — to Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, where both got stitches after the attack, she said.
“They’re still not out of the woods,” Bachman said. “They still may have to have another surgery.”
“The town, the only thing we can do really is if we call the dog catcher, they want record of it. So we have to fill out a complaint form and send everything up to the dog pound,” Cottrell said.
Bachman said she went in person Monday and the shelter was closed, but she spoke to someone outside who said there was nothing they could do. Their hands were tied and she needed to go online and fill out a complaint form or make an appointment through the phone, she was told.
“I did go to the magistrate court and I found charges against him,” she said. “And my bill’s over $3,000 right now.”
Melissa Harrison, asked council how many times it takes a dog running loose before something is done.
“There’s a leash law in town, there’s a leash law in the county, there’s a leash law in the state. I know that between her and I, we’ve called, between the sheriff’s department, she’s contacted the town. We’ve done county commission, we’ve called all around. Nobody’s checked to see if the taxes have been paid on the dog; if dogs are even up on their vaccines. I don’t understand.”
Harrison also said the dogs killed someone’s cats around Easter.
“We have all the complaints here and everything about the dogs from that gentleman. I think we got a couple more coming tomorrow from other people in town. So whenever we get all this put together, I’ll get with Officer Leatherman back there and see what he can do,” Cottrell said.
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