The dog, a large Labrador retriever mix named Bear, was impounded on July 20 after he escaped from a chain link kennel, according to Lake County Animal Care and Control staff at Tuesday's meeting.
Animal Care and Control recommended destroying the dog, which Officer Morgan Hermann described as “bipolar” – wagging his tail one minute and lunging to attack the next.
A vicious dog abatement order had been placed against the dog on July 6, Hermann said.
Deputy Director Bill Davidson told Lake County News Tuesday that Bear, who he estimated weighed more than 100 pounds, was in trouble over an attack in July.
“He was involved in a dog attack with two other dogs, and they did injure two other people,” he said.
The other two dogs – owned by the roommate of Bear's owner, Gerald Lindquist – also were involved in a previous attack, Davidson said.
Lindquist did not appear for the hearing, and Davidson told Lake County News that Lindquist hasn't been a part of any of the proceedings involving the animal.
Instead, his attorney, Tasha M. Bollinger of Santa Rosa, made the case to spare Bear on Tuesday, saying Lindquist was hospitalized and unable to attend.
Last month when Hermann and another officer, Nehemiah White, impounded Bear – he was reported to have chewed through the chain link – several people reportedly approached them at the scene, including a woman who informed them that their souls were going to “rot in hell” for taking the dog.
Bollinger told the board that they needed to look at the previous animal abatement order, which set up the rules that Lindquist needed to follow to keep Bear, including having him confined in the kennel.
She said Lindquist was relying on the county to make a safe decision for the dog, an argument supervisors would take issue with during the course of the discussion.
Board Chair Anthony Farrington said it was Lindquist's responsibility to keep a safe kennel, and Supervisor Rob Brown added that the goal was to keep the public safe from the dog.
“This is not a normal situation,” nor was Bear a normal dog, Brown said.
“To suggest that this is the county's fault that the dog got out is pretty ridiculous,” he said, adding, that the spin “is not working.”
David Baron, a dog trainer from Placer County, spoke on behalf of Bear, saying he was called last Friday by a friend of Lindquist's to be an expert witness in the case. As of Tuesday he hadn't seen the kennel or even pictures of it.
Baron said Bear needed to be under control, and he did not know at that point if he could train the dog. He said the animal control officers should have known the cage holding Bear was inadequate.
Brown compared the situation to “a drug user signing up for a rehab program one week before sentencing. They should have done this a long time ago.”
Baron said in Placer County they wouldn't have relied on the owner to make the right choice for the kennel, including the gauge of the chain link. Brown said from this point on they probably weren't going to rely on Lindquist anyway.
Supervisor Jim Comstock wanted to see Baron's credentials. Baron said he owns the training business Superdog Inc.
Brown asked Baron if he had seen the dog at the pound and if he had gotten into the kennel. Baron said he saw the animal but didn't try to get in with him. He said the dog was barking and looked very scared, and he said that aggression in dogs often is a result of fear.
Farrington questioned how Baron could make any conclusions about the kennel when he hadn't seen it firsthand. Hermann said the kennel met the county's basic standards.
Friends of Lindquist's said they were helping to set up a new kennel for the dog, and asked for mercy.
Bollinger, who clarified that she wasn't trying to say the county was liable, said Lindquist wanted to comply with the order, and that when Bear escaped he didn't hurt anyone. She said Lindquist is very ill and the dog means a lot to him, and losing the animal would be “very detrimental” to him.
Davidson told the board, “There's a lack of stability in the dog's life with owners.”
Comstock said he was concerned that by not ordering the dog destroyed the board was endangering the public's safety.
Hermann said different people had been caring for the dog for Lindquist, and most of them were scared of it.
She said when she and other staff at the kennel passed his cage he acted like he wanted to bite them. “He's not a nice dog,” she said.
Comstock said he couldn't support any more opportunities, and Brown added, “It's a tough call,” with dogs rarely being the ones to blame in such cases.
If the dog injured anyone going forward, “We're the ones who are ultimately responsible, we're the ones at risk,” said Brown, who wasn't willing to take that chance.
Farrington, who said he'd never heard of a dog busting out of a kennel, said he hasn't seen Lindquist comply with any of the abatement requirements, including insurance and containment. He said he had a dog that he had to have put down several years ago when it manifested aggression problems.
Brown suggested giving Animal Care and Control staff time to consider the situation over the lunch break.
“We dodged a bullet this time,” said Brown, noting he wanted to hear staff's opinion.
But after lunch Davidson told the board, “We think the order of destruction is going to be the best decision for safeguarding the community.”
Comstock moved to deny Lindquist's appeal and destroy the dog, and Brown seconded with discussion.
He and other board members said they were willing to consider giving the dog another chance if a trainer was hired to work with it and a report was made back to the board.
Brown said the dog wouldn't go back to its current situation and will have consistent care, “which it's not getting now.”
Comstock only supported releasing the dog to the owner upon completion of training, and Brown said they needed to check the trainer's qualifications.
County Counsel Anita Grant said the board also should consider how the dog is going to be transported home if it's taken out of county for training, especially if it can't be rehabilitated. Farrington said he wanted Animal Care and Control involved throughout the process.
The board directed that a report on the dog's progress be made on Oct. 5, and agreed to keep the order to destroy Bear in place if the stipulations aren't met.
Davidson asked the board to require that if the dog doesn't pass the training custody of him goes back to Animal Care and Control.
Davidson said that in most cases when there is a problem with a dog it disappears. He told Lake County News in a subsequent interview that half of the time in such cases owners claim the dog was stolen or ran away.
Bollinger said Tuesday afternoon that she felt the board did a commendable job of balancing the concerns of protecting the community with Lindquist's desire to keep Bear.
She hadn't been able to speak with Lindquist about what's ahead, noting he has been hospitalized over the past month. Bollinger said Lindquist has been willing to spend a lot of money to save the dog and is willing to go even further.
Although a trainer is going to work with the dog, because of the vicious abatement order, “Bear is basically going to be locked up for life,” said Bollinger. “He's going to be in the kennel. We've already decided that.”
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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