Brandie The Dog Spared From Death Row


By Eric Barton For browardpalmbeach.com

Brandie the dog has received the caninie equivalent of a last-minute death row call from the governor. Rather than being put down for biting to death an off leash toy poodle, she’ll be released to her owners later this week.

That’s thanks to a deal cut last night by Broward County Commissioners, who realized the folly in their zero-tolerance vicious dog law. Brandie had been on doggie death row since May as her owner, Lon Lipsky,
fought the county in court.

Lipsky was ecstatic today that a deal had finally been cut. “My wife and I — it’s been a rough seven and a half months. We’ve put blood, guts, and tears into this.”

The county and Lipsky’s lawyer, Fred Kray, are still negotiating terms of Brandie’s release. It appears she’ll be required to be microchipped, her owners will have to put her in a muzzle while on walks, and all lawsuits will be dismissed. Lipsky said he’s willing to live with such restrictions if it means Brandie will be out of a cage.

As for commissioners, Lipsky figures they wanted to avoid the political backlash of another dog dying due to the ordinance. Already, 56 dogs have been put down after being deemed vicious.

“They’re just trying to avoid a black eye,” Lipsky said. “I mean, 56 dogs in a year and a half? Are you kidding me?”

The county will also free Gigi, a dog owned by Thomas Austin, who had also appealed to the courts to save his dog.

The ordinance itself likely won’t survive much longer. Commissioners indicated they may change the law in January, and even if they don’t, it may not beat a challenge now pending in the Fourth District Court of Appeals.

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Mhhaslam
Mhhaslam
13 years ago

These blanket laws are unfair, I’m glad to hear sense has prevailed.

Linda
Linda
13 years ago

OK. Last straw for Dog Files for me. Time for me to “unlike” Dog Files from FB. Dog is beautiful & was probably a good family pet (although could just be tasting the baby). The dog killed someone else’s pet, for heavens sake. Do we want to treat our pets as humans? Afraid I’m guilty. What do we do when a human kills another? In Texas, we “put them to sleep”. As I said, this is simply the last straw. Tired of looking at articles about “sweet” pit bulls “unfairly” put to death. Guess you haven’t seen a neighbor’s “sweet” pit bulls tear apart another neighbors lab until it looked like hamburger meat. I have. These dogs are simply ticking time bombs awaiting the right set of circumstances to go with their instincts to kill. Goodbye, Dog Files.

Lovey
13 years ago

So another smaller dog will get mauled to death because the owners can’t control their animal. Great.

:(
:(
12 years ago

In all fairness, Brandie was on leash. It clearly stated, that the small dog was off-leash. Who’s fault is that??? People tend to forget that dogs are predators. So pretend you are Brandie for a moment, a dog, from the sound of it, has a good amount of prey drive, sees this little furry thing come up to it… and what? What do you think is going to happen? Perhaps the people with the little dog shouldn’t have let it wander all over creation..? You never know who is going to grab you and who is going to welcome you. Hopefully the small dog’s owner learned a lesson. I’m glad Brandie wasn’t put down for being a dog. 

Pami
Pami
12 years ago

Just to add to that.  There is a huge misconception regarding larger breeds.  From what I have witnessed all of my life is that the smallest of dogs are the ones nipping, snapping and barking incessantly.  I love all dogs, though I prefer the calmer large breeds.  When we go for walks my large breed is on a leash and he is also trained.  Smaller dogs tend to pull their owners toward the larger dog…and mine just walks with me away when I command, IGNORE.  It is the owner’s responsibility to take care of their pet.  Enough said.

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