Dead Dog Waiting

I don't make it a habit to bother the governor of New Jersey. But I just dashed off an e-mail to his office with a plea to save a dog I've never met.

I got the address when I stumbled on a Web site dedicated to sparing the life of Congo, an 18-month old German shepherd in Princeton New Jersey, who attacked a gardener. There were extenuating circumstances -- most importantly, Congo's belief that he was protecting his owner.

The fact that I am somewhat consumed by the fate of this animal is strange given the fact that neither my husband nor I particularly liked dogs. In fact, I was afraid of them. I could never quite shake the suspicion that anything descended from a wolf harbored -- however deeply -- a genetic predisposition to bite me.

But under intense lobbying by my young daughter, who argued we could never be fully realized as a family without a dog, I relented and brought one into our home. And then for reasons that aren't quite clear to me, I opened our doors to another one.

And now I want Congo to live.

The story seems to become less important the farther you get from Central New Jersey. But for those who haven't heard of Congo, he is, by all accounts, a big and affable dog who lives with his family, his mate Lucia and four puppies on 10 acres near Princeton. One of his nicknames is "Happy Dog."

In June, two gardeners who worked for a local staffing company arrived an hour early for a job. They came in the yard despite, the family contends, being asked to stay in the truck until the dogs could be corralled.

When Congo, Lucia and three of the puppies came running toward them, one landscaper grabbed Congo's owner from behind to put her between him and the dogs. She screamed and, according to the owners, landed on top of the gardener as they fell to the ground. Congo reacted as you might expect of a powerful dog with protective instincts.

The landscaper required surgery to close wounds -- mainly to his leg -- and had to receive rabies injections because the puppies (who may have thought a game was in progress) had not completed their vaccinations. The family was fined for the un-vaccinated dogs. The gardener got a $250,000 insurance settlement. He has said he bears to dogs no ill-will.

It might have ended there.

But Congo seems to have his Javert. Two of them, actually.

A local animal control officer insists the attack was unprovoked. And a municipal judge agrees. Even though Congo has no priors and a parade of workers and delivery people testified that he is friendly and docile, the judge declared Congo "vicious." That carries an automatic death sentence.

Congo's lawyer continues to argue that Congo was reacting as any protective dog would when he thought a family member was being attacked. He also said the landscaper has changed his version of events five times. The animal control offer said in response -- "No, it was only three times."

The owner testified she told the animal control officer she was pulled to the ground, which he put in his notes. Unfortunately, he reports, the notes from the owner and all defense witnesses were eaten by a stray dog he was transporting in the front seat of his truck.

One of the puppies had wounds that the owners say happened when the other gardener struck at them with a rake. The animal control officer says the owners inflicted the wounds themselves to strengthen their story.

The owners turned down a plea bargain that would have labeled Congo a "potentially dangerous" dog, which would have required him to be tattooed (literally) as such and put strict limits on his movements. They argued he didn't do anything wrong.

So Congo remained behind bars from June until mid-November, unable by order of the court to return to his family. Reports are that he was listless and losing weight.

Two days after the municipal judge denied a request to allow him to return home while his case was on appeal to Superior Court, a Superior Court Judge signed a court order freeing him -- under strict supervision -- until the appeal on his death sentence is decided. Accounts say Congo came flying out of the shelter like he was shot from a cannon, giving his family -- and his attorney -- an affectionate mauling.

Congo is home -- muzzled when he leaves the house -- but still on death row. The appeal is not expected to be heard for six months.

Lucia and the puppies, Bear, Shadow, Mangus and Hunter, were said to be in a state of leaping ecstasy when he returned.

There have been demonstrations in front of the court house, cleared court rooms, many thousands of calls and e-mails to the Governor's office, a blizzard of blogs and assorted death threats to the judge. New legislation ("Congo's Law") aims to refine the concept of provocation.

The case has even taken on overtones of privilege and class. The white well-to-do family in an upscale area versus a gardener who, it was reported, is here illegally.

Others have pointed out that the case, which dominated local news for weeks, is out of proportion to its importance. One resident noted there were more people in front of the court house than attended to local Veteran's Day Parade.

Okay- - you can argue there are more important things to worry about. You can argue it's a matter for the courts to decide based on the evidence. You can ask if local sentiment would be different if the bite victim was a local child versus a laborer from another country.

I can't disagree with any of that. But I still don't think this dog deserves to die for protecting a family member on his own property -- especially when so many details are cloudy at best.

Comments

[arrogantcatherder]

Let's change things around a little. Guy dog doesn't know grabs dog's owner. Owner screams. Dog attacks stranger. Dog is going to be destroyed because he did what a good dog is supposed to do - protect his family. The issue of undocumented workers isn't really relevant because I can guarantee the dog didn't ask if the guy had a green card. I understand why its in the mix. It just doesn't have a bearing on the issue of putting the dog down. No one has been accused of deliberately setting a vicious dog (by all accounts, Congo is not vicious) on undocumented workers. That said, its unfortunate that this happened. The upshot is, if Congo was really vicious, the worker would have been dead instead of recovering. There are extenuating circumstances. From what I've read my guess is the worker didn't understand when asked to wait while the dogs were removed from the yard and didn't realize the least smart thing to do was grab the owner. ANY dog will attack if they see a threat. And, no, I'm not saying its okay to subject people to dog attacks, but then this wasn't Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay.

[tobei31]

Congo should be spared. I know what it is for the family that owns the dog especially the kids. I have owned a dog before years back and I loved this dog the way I loved my family because it was part of my family.

The victim(The Gardener)irrespective his an illegal immigrant got compensated by the insurance company. I respect the Gardener as a human being. What else does the court want? I don't beilieve this dog has a history of violence.

Please let the dog be spared for the sake of the kids, if you are a dog owner you will know what I am talking about. The love is just too much. All animal advocates please speak up for the sake of this lovely, beautiful dog.

[QueenCeleste]

Thank you for this post; I'd not read about this incident. It is absurd that Congo is in this predicament--what is wrong with people?! I will email the Governor and sign and petition. And pray for Congo's release.

And I'm glad to read you've become a dog person. (Your daughter sounds like a wonderful girl.) As we've all learned from this story, they need much human intervention to help them, as human intervention as certainly done more than a little harm over the years to our dear canine friends.

[kwestionauthority]

I live out in the sticks and every day I read about the latest home burglaries in local newspapers. The articles frequently relay advice about how to make homes safe from robbers and the number one suggestion from law enforcement officials is for people to, "Get a dog." I have a Rottweiler mix who could probably hit an artery in two seconds if someone broke in my house. I wouldn't live out here without him!

[olivine]

Where is the sanity? Either executing dogs for biting in their own backyards or jailing kids for smoking marijuana...who is paying attention to the real criminals i.e.,certain agribusinesses,pharmaceutical companies pushing dangerous drugs,environmental polluters, etc.?It is like spanking babies...easier to come down hard on the innocent.

[SeaBlood]

When all the other German Shepherds out there see this on tv, they'll all say "I sure learned my lesson; I'll never bite anybody; I'm a changed dog!" Here, I'm being facetious : my point is that this whole "capital punishment for dogs" thing is ridiculous. If anyone is to blame, it would be the humans; dogs are candid and innocent, doing only what they are trained for.

[JoDeeVa]

Thanks, Peggy
I found the information needed to contact Govenor Corsine. I e-mailed and called his office asking him to pardon Congo from his death sentence. Some may think this a bit trivial when compared to problems in the world today, but I know something like this can remain in your psyche for a long time, because painful memories don't discriminate between the world-at-large and your own little orbit in it!

A number of years ago, I had a dog, named Zorba..a most gentle and sweet dog, who bit someone, AFTER being kicked in the face by that someone. Animal control grabbed and kept him until I could provide his "rabies vaccination" papers. He was released and exonerated from any guilt, however the "someone" was the son of a friend of the animal control officer in charge, who picked Zorba up without authorization and summarily executed him. This man was subsequently relieved of his duties for those actions, but Zorba was still gone from my life!
As you can tell, it still grieves me these many years later. I thank you for acting on behalf of Congo and his family and bringing it to our attention! Zorba would do the same, if he could...
Thanks, waitaminit for providing links. I signed the petition, but I couldn't get a link reference to..well, LINK!!
EVERYONE!! Sign the petition!
And, CALL THE GOVERNOR: 609- 292-6000 The governor’s office is taking calls and they are doing a tally of people who are for or AGAINST putting Congo down. Please take a second to call as his life is on the line. Tell them what state you are from, so they know people are watching, no matter where we live!!

[PuffAndStuff]

Great post. Thanks for writing about it and informing us all about this situation.

I live in NJ, and I had not heard about this story. Perhaps only the local press in Princeton had/has really be on it, rather than statewide media ... ?

It sounds like the animal officer needs to put this situation into prespective: It does not sound like Congo is an overall dangerous animal, rather he was actually fearful of the gardener and was trying to protect the puppies. I'm not a dog breeder, so do not have firsthand experience -- BUT I do know that even very gentle, docile dogs can be aggressive if they fear their young are in danger. And I'm quite sure any breeder can verify this.

I'd bet Congo's owners would be willing to make the neccesary accomodations/modifications to elimate the possibility of him being in the position for this to ever happen again.

It doesn't sound like alternative options as such have even been considered. From what I've read on this post about this situation, I truly believe that this animal officer would be doing something horribly wrong in putting poor Congo to death for his actions.

Again, thanks for bringing the story to my attention, and thanks to 'waitaminut' for providing the contact links. I will write/call Corzine's office, and forward your blog post along to others.

[SandiH]

German Shepherd Dogs are supposed to protect their owners. What would anyone expect him to do when his owner was shoved to the ground.
Good Boy, Congo.
Fire the animal control officer (kids don't get away with "the dog ate it" neither should an adult)
Leave Congo to live out his life with the family who loves him.

[zull2]

The thing about dogs and wolves, is that a long, long time ago, a fairly sizable population of the human race lived in some pretty difficult conditions for survival. Just to find enough food to survive, humans and the weaker wolves that didn't get enough food from their packs to get by kind of teamed up, in a way...and it worked out really well. Sure, in some parts of the world, that kind of symbiosis wasn't too necessary...but in some regions it was. I kind of think that's why some societies put dogs on a higher pedestal than other animals. It's sort of a thankful memory that has been passed forward and institutionalized as a more in some cultures. (Not unlike Elephants in India, etc...in the Middle East/far East...in most places...dogs weren't necessary for survival and were considered scavengers, nuisances, and food sources...but for those of us who thrived in less hospitable and colder climes...)

That's really the way to look at em, though. They're your buddies and they're descended from dogs that helped your ancestors survive and thrive, and thus, why you exist. Well, if that applies to you anyway. :)

[lillianjane]

Animal control is far too eager to kill animals. I hope the outcry will make the officials change their minds. The dog was obviously provoked.

But I also think the owners shouldn't have an unneutered male dog, who is more likely to be aggressive, and shouldn't be making more dogs, when so many are killed every day.

[waitaminit]

Peggy:

I'm a big fan of your dog stuff. But I have to admit, I thought you were making this up.

A dog ate my notes? Something is rotten in the state of Jersey.

So I checked out your story. Damned if it isn't all true.

One thing you didn't do is give any links.

Maybe you don't want the New Jersey State Police at your door.

I got this from a German Shepherd site.

The number to call is 609-292-6000

The e-mail is:

http://www.nj.gov/governor/govmail.html

(Choose Law & Public Safety from the Drop Down and on the next page, Pardons & Clemency. Seriously -- this is what the German Shepherd people say to do. It works.)

You can reach the municipal judge who seems determined to do Congo in at:

princeton-township.nj.uship.nj.us

(Careful, I think threatening a judge is a crime)

From what I've read, the Governor's office is tallying up the save Congo calls. Kind of like American Idol, I guess. Only the loser gets a needle. No word on how many calls saves him.

Gov. corzine may not care that much about contacts from outside New jersey. But then again, he may have presidential ambitions. And dog lovers have long memories.

You can also sign a petition at:

http://tinyurl.com/32tfx8

[DrLegacy]

yes, need a link for emailing that governor.

good boy, Congo. may you live long.

[fran]

I'm with you on this Peggy.It's too bad
you didn't add a link for your readers to e-mail the Gov,but thanks for bringing it to our attention

[Ravenlea]

I'm rooting for Congo and his family. Even the guy who was bitten isn't holding a grudge, why should anybody else. Crazy story.