My name is Kathie Price, I live in Beavercreek, Oregon in the county of Clackamas on a 19 acre farm located 14 miles from the nearest city. In September 1997, I received a letter from the Department of Transportation & Development in Clackamas County. It would seem that a neighbor, had sent in a complaint stating that I owned too many dogs. I own 5 adult rottweilers. I have owned my property for several years, and have had dogs on the property since I purchased it. There were no criminal charges against my dogs in any form. I was just being charged for owning too many, and therefore charged as being an illegal kennel. All of my dogs are legally licensed, and always have been through Clackamas County Animal Control, which is the law.
The neighbor in question, who had reported me, has a long history of trying to cause me problems. He has had the police called on him by myself and myself and my family members, approximately 14 times in the last several tears. The police calls have been due to violence ranging from death threats, to attempted assault, and an attack with a deadly weapon.
I was ordered to appear before a hearings officer on January 16, 1998. My 20 year old daughter and I appeared. The hearings compliance officer was a Kathryn Alvin. During the course of our hearing, we were not allowed to enter any of our evidence, including the State of Oregon Humane Laws 603-15-025 through 603-15-050, which is the law that determines who in the state is a kennel. Nor were we allowed to enter evidence showing the long history involving the abuse by the above mentioned neighbor. All of our evidence was ruled inadmissible. The hearings officer ruled that we had in the past been an illegal kennel, by having 5 dogs on our 19 acres, even though these dogs met none of the requirements associated with a kennel. She than order that we must remove 2 of the dogs from our property. I tried very hard to explain to her, that these dogs were much loved family members, older dogs, ages 9,8,5,5,5 and that it is impossible to quote "give away' dogs of this breed and age.
She than said if we did not give them away, they were to be put to death, and verification given to the court by a vet. I than stated that she was condemning these dogs to a death sentence, and she said, yes she was. I tried to approach them to obtain a kennel license, and was inform that since I had broken the law, I would not be allowed to obtain one. Since I live in a rural area, it is not uncommon up here, for many of the land owners to have more than 3 dogs, several families I know of in this area, have anywhere from 7 dogs to 14. None of these people are being forced to remove, or kill their animals.
I believe we are, because our dogs happen to be rottweilers. The confusing part of all of this for me, is why does Clackamas County Animal Control, sell the public dog licenses, that they know are illegal. That makes no sense. A friend of mine went to Animal Control the morning of my hearing, and licensed 6 dogs.
The effect this whole matter has taken on my family, is unbelievable. We are living under constant stress, my 20 year old is threatening to leave the state with her dog, my 14 year old, has spent the last 3 days crying, and most heartbreaking of all, is my 11 year ols son, these dogs have been in his life since he was an infant, we have all laughed for years, that "Andy" has been raised by rottweilers, we have pictures of him, laying on our Sonja, taking his baby bottle. his best friend, our Ciaya, is his bed partner, and life partner, where ever Andy is, Ciaya is. The sweetest sight you will ever see, is him and her sleeping together, she has her own stuffed animals, and baby blanket, you always know when its their bedtime, because Ciaya drags her baby blanket around, and tell Andy "come on bud, its time for bed". My son has been so affected by all of this, he is either hanging around his dogs neck in tears, or trying to figure out a way for them to run away, where no one will find them. needless to say I'm watching them very closely. And its been 3 days now since the hearing, and my son still refuses to eat. This whole situation is destroying our entire family. How and why, these people think they can do this to us, is beyond me, and if this is allowed to happen, in the future, no dog owner will be safe, they will be able to come to your home, and tell you to destroy your animal, for no reasons.
This issue will affect every dog owner out there.
-Kathie Price