In a Municipal Court hearing in Montrose Colo. On Feb. 14, 2013 Dutch, the service dog of disabled Jeremiah Aguilar, was sentenced to death and Jeremiah was sentenced to 20 days in jail. The news of this happening on Valentine’s Day just makes it even worse. Its hard to imagine what Jeremiah, who suffers from PTSD, is going through.
Judge Brown seemed heartless in his statements and failed to understand again and again the fact that Rachel Daake, who raised Dutch from a pup, should have known better and not only did she injure Dutch but she caused his reaction to her which caused her injuries and now his wrongful death on Valentine’s Day. This story reached us here in the Puget Sound a few days before the hearing as it reached an internet uproar. Rachel has claimed that she beat Dutch while trying to break up a dog fight, that beating included her beating him until her hands were sore and then using a metal pole. After she broke up the supposed dog fight she drug him in the house by his collar and that is when he bit her.
You don’t need to be a dog trainer, specialist or anything of that nature to know that if you did just break up a dog fight that you don’t now put your hands, face, arms, legs, body, and so on in a place where you could get bit by a still fearful and riled up large dog. Additionally, after raising Dutch from a pup she should know his mannerisms and know how to stop him from doing something like fighting with out having to beat him with a metal pole. Personally, I have had many dogs of all breeds and sizes (including pit bulls and mastiffs), and I have had to break up dog fights. Over the years I have been bitten twice by a dog, once was by a pit bull/great Dane mix that mistook my hand for a ball. I was not angry with the dog, wasn’t his fault, it was a mistake, but yes I had to go to the hospital. The second time was by one of our dogs that we have now, they got into a fight one of them bit my hand and tore the skin. Again, was I mad? No. Why? Because I did something I knew I shouldn’t and put my hand where it should not have been, that is not the dogs fault.
There has been a lot of controversy around what really happened and many people are upset over those that are taking the dogs side of this. The reality is that a dog has been murdered due to the ignorance of a judge and the stupidity of a his former owner. This is like throwing the victim of rape in prison for fighting back against their attacker.
The judge ordered that the Save Dutch Facebook page be taken down and the site creators complied with Judge Brown’s orders but a new page was created over night by someone outside of the judges jurisdiction as a Tribute to Dutch. He may have lost his life but we need to put a stop to killing animals because of a human caused issue and this sweet dog is proof of that.
Update Feb. 15, 2013: I was given the wrong information, Dutch is alive and well. Below are links to petitions and Facebook pages in support of Dutch. Also, below this article you will find links to updated articles.
Facebook Pages
Love and Support of Dutch. No Judge Will Order This Page Down.
Petitions
If you have or know of a Facebook page or petition that I have missed here please feel free to leave a comment with a link and I will try to get this updated to include you. Know that the White House petition is very important as they are required to respond to any petitions that gain over 100,000 signatures.
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