A Westminster man?s dog will be put to death because it attacked two dogs and killed one of them.
Carroll County Commissioners Dean Minnich and Perry Jones upheld the county Humane Society?s decision Tuesday.
Brian Prodoehl, 18, and his mother, Gina Prodoehl, of Singer Drive, were denied their appeal to save the life of their black-and-white pit bull Mattie.
“The owner said his dog attacked the other dog, because he trained his dog to protect him and his property from threats, but the same thing could be perceived if a little kid was walking through the bushes,” said Humane Society Director Carolyn Ratliff.
Jones and Minnich agreed with Ratliff in deeming Mattie a “public nuisance” after witnesses testified during an April 20 hearing that the pit bull had attacked two dogs last year and killed one of them in March of this year.
In March, Mattie fatally attacked Shadow, a 10-year-old Shih Tzu owned by Stephanie Crockett and David Harvilek, neighbors of the Prodoehls, according to testimony.
Crockett testified that she heard Brian Prodoehl yelling and saw Mattie running unleashed across the backyard of the town houses before attacking her pet, according to the decision.
Brian Prodoehl testified that Mattie was chained when the smaller dog entered the yard.
Carroll County has no ordinance requiring the chaining or leashing of dogs.
“Most of the situations involving animals that end up in court or in front of animal control, it?s the humans making the mistakes and the dogs end up paying the price,” Ratliff said.
“The man did everything wrong in training that dog.”
She described pit bulls as generally aggressive toward other dogs, a trait traditionally bred into them for dog fighting.
Jones said he visited the neighborhood after the hearing to help him decide Mattie?s fate and found many children in the area.
“I gave it a lot of thought and about how they could put in a fence, but a dog like that would go under the fence,” he said.
James Fritz, another neighbor, testified that Mattie attacked Sasha, his Labrador retriever-chow mix, in November, according to the decision.
This is the last appeal for the Prodoehls under the County Code, County Attorney Kim Millender said.
The Prodoehls could not be reached for comment.
Commissioner Julia Gouge was absent for the decision because of surgery.
