Crime victim's service dog shot

Seattle PI ^

[Chet 99]

Crime victim's service dog shot

By MARLEE GINTER KOMO-TV STAFF

BELLINGHAM -- Chohnie Baird clutched on to the people around her. With her service dog gone, she has no choice but to rely on others for support.

"I miss her. I'm afraid to be out here now. That's why I had her," Baird said.

Baird said the unthinkable suddenly robbed her of her service golden retriever.

Detectives said that on Monday afternoon, a neighbor shot and killed Sister. Baird, a crime victim, had gotten Sister to be her therapy dog and protector.

James Krebs, Baird's caretaker, said he witnessed the shooting from his window.

"We heard the first shot, we saw Sister running. I heard the second shot and then I just saw her collapse," he said.

Baird doesn't know why anyone would shoot Sister, a dog she said would never provoke or scare anyone.

Baird said her helper was never aggressive, but a witness claims otherwise. The witness told KOMO News that Baird's dog had attacked a small poodle a neighbor was walking.

When a neighbor looked out to see what all the commotion was about, he saw that the woman who was walking the poodle was on the ground. Thinking Sister was attacking the woman, the man shot the dog, detectives said.

The woman later said she was unnerved to see a big dog approaching her small dog, and the fear had caused her to sit, almost as if her legs had given out.

But witnesses told the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office that Sister was also running loose and tormenting other dogs that were fenced in.

But Baird doesn't buy it, insisting Sister was a trained service dog and a docile golden retriever.

"She might have seen a dog that Alberta (my neighbor) was walking. She walks that dog all the time," she said. "Nobody shoots a service dog!"

The Whatcom County Sheriff's Office has turned over the case, which it considers a feud between neighbors, to the prosecutor's office.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

That’s good to hear. I appreciate when I hear of dogs that are better than their reputations.

[DJ MacWoW]

His only questionable behaviour was to sit by Grandpa, pass gas, then run. :-)

[BruceysMom]

Wow this must be one of the be one of the best days of your little tiny boring life.

[Hyzenthlay]

I also have to wonder if the two dogs were just playing (dog play can look pretty aggressive to someone who hasn’t seen it before) and the one woman cluelessly thought “Oh, no, this retriever is attacking my little toy poodle!” Toy poodles are crazy little things, they seem to think they’ve got the body of a Rottweiler...