Dog Court
What happens when your neighbor's dog won't behave and your neighbor just won't take action?
Try dog court. CBS Correspondent Hattie Kauffman reports from San Francisco, from a dog court, where owners can be forced to keep their Fidos on a short leash or feel the long arm of the law.
When Sgt. William Herndon hears of a problem pooch, he puts the animal behind bars until the owners appear in dog court.
And once a week, Sgt. Herndon takes on the role of judge, where many of the defendants are labeled vicious and dangerous. He's one of the only dog judges in the country.
One case involves a rottweiler.
"I went to my living room window and looked down, I stepped on the couch in order to look down and I see her dog attacking my cat," explains Caroline Crawford.
"We were walking in front of her house, when the cat jumped out of the bushes and jumped on the dog," says Mildred Harris, the dog's owner.
But Sgt. Herndon does not quite believe Harris' story.
"In this particular case I do not believe that a declawed cat jumped out of the bush at 3 o'clock in the morning, landed on top of a rottweiler dog and engaged the dog in combat," he says.
| Read other articles related to This Morning's series "Pet Projects." |
Another case to challenge Sgt. Herndon involves Charles Reiter's claim about a dog: "He broke through the fence and chased down our little cat and killed it."
"They say he's dangerous and vicious," says the dog's owner, Michael Baker. "It's just that he doesn't care for cats."
Dog court is under the jurisdiction of the San Francisco Police Department. When cases are appealed, they are sent to the regular court system.
In one recent instance, Sgt. Herndon has an order to have a dog destroyed; the order was appealed to the state superior court.
"He was involved in five separate incidents, and we weren't aware of it until a gal was walking down the street," he explains. "The dog ran up to her, bit her on the arm, would not let go of the arm."
Lest anyone think that Sgt. Herndon has some inbred animal animosity, he wants it to be known he is a pet lover with his own menagerie at his ranch outside San Francisco. His pets include horses, cats and dogs.
"[It] makes me a more responsible owner because I have to make darn sure that I never put my dogs in a position where they could do somehing bad, because I'd know what I'd have to do with them," he says.
To learn about what happened in one extreme case where a young boy was mauled, read "Dogs Kill: Who's To Blame?" for a story related to a CBS News 48 Hours segment.
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