Published: December 12, 2007 11:39 pm      

Dog trial begins

HOLLIDAYSBURG — Jake, the subject of a high-profile dog theft, may have lived chained to a box in the yard, but his owners testified Wednesday that he was cared for, fed and watered.

An officer with the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society testified that Jake was not stressed or dehydrated when he examined the dog Sept. 11, 2006, the day he was taken from the East Freedom home.

A three-day trial opened Wednesday for Tammy Grimes, 43, who said she took Jake for his own protection.

Grimes – the founder of Dogs Deserve Better, a national group opposed to long-term dog tethering – is charged with theft and receiving stolen property.

The Antis Township woman will take the stand to tell her story, defense attorney Phil Robertson said.

Robertson said he also will present testimony from a veterinarian about the canine’s condition.

Steve and Lori Arnold, Jake’s owners, spent much of Wednesday on the witness stand detailing their observations of Jake’s condition in the days leading up to Grimes’ action.

Both said they had become increasingly aware of the arthritic condition of the 19-year-old shepherd mix. Two days before he was taken, they testified, they had decided to see whether there was something that could be done for him or they should have him put down.

“It’s one of the hardest things you could ever think of doing. I was having the most problem,” Steve Arnold said. “I think he was losing his eyesight and his hearing.”

Grimes reportedly was responding to what has been described as repeated calls from a neighbor of the Arnolds, who said the dog had lain on the ground for three days. Grimes has said she was concerned the dog was neglected and may have been dying or dead.

The Arnolds testified that, although they were away parts of Sept. 9 and 10 and at work all day Sept. 11, Jake and another tethered dog would come out of their houses and bark whenever the Arnolds arrived home.

Jake also was eating a mixture of hard food and canned puppy food because of difficulty chewing and was given water, the Arnolds said.

Officer Paul Gottshall, a humane society policeman, said he was responding to a call about the dog when he learned from Freedom Township police that Grimes already had been to the house.

He met her in the parking lot of the vet’s office, where he determined the elderly dog wasn’t in shock and wasn’t severely dehydrated.

He allowed Jake, who later was renamed Doogie, to go into the office for an exam but warned Grimes that she was to leave the dog there.

“I told Mrs. Grimes not to take the dog unless you contact me,” Gottshall said.

Grimes left a voice mail with the officer asking what she should do with the dog, a message he did not get until the next day. Later that night, Gottshall learned she had taken it to her home.

Steve Arnold testified that he learned of his dog’s death March 1 on a local radio station and, despite attempts to pick up the body, the Arnolds were unable to get it from a local veterinarian’s office until March 3. And that, he said, occurred only after he threatened to call police.

“It hit me pretty hard,” he said. “I gave him a burial in our yard at home.”