County seeks to strip man of pet privileges

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County seeks to strip man of pet privileges

His dogs are accused of biting seven people. A judge will soon decide if he can keep them or own other pets in the future.


HOLIDAY, FL - Brad Penokie has special nicknames for his Doberman-Rottweiler mixes: big Rock, gentle Kobie, beautiful Sheena, cute little Lady and pretty Baby. He says they're smart, obedient and would never hurt a soul.

So what about the 5-year-old girl bitten in the thigh Oct. 23, 2000? An accidental play bite, Penokie explains.

How about the 50-year-old neighbor bit in the leg Dec. 9, 2001, on her exercise walk? Must have been someone else's dog, he said, because his dogs were nowhere near her.

And the woman who needed 90 stitches and plastic surgery on her face from an Oct. 1, 2001, attack? As strange as it sounds, Penokie swears the 27-year-old bit his dog first.

Line up the incidents over the past three years, and Penokie sees a mix of misunderstandings and false accusations.

But the county sees a pattern of vicious dog attacks, and officials fear the next one could maim or kill someone. That's why they're taking the rare step of asking a judge to take away Penokie's dogs and bar him from owning any future pets in Pasco County.

"This is sort of a new attempt to address what's been an ongoing problem," said Assistant County Attorney Kristi Wooden, who filed the lawsuit last month. "After a certain number of strikes, people show themselves to be completely irresponsible and not deserving of the rights to own a pet."

The county won the first round June 3, when County Judge William Sestak granted a temporary injunction that forbids Penokie from owning any dogs until a final hearing Aug. 6.

At that time, Sestak will decide whether Penokie can reclaim his dogs, and whether he can own future ones.

"It's insane," said Penokie, 49, a trim man with a dark tan, a holdover from his now-defunct lawn care business.

"They're not vicious dogs one bit. They're people friendly."

The last straw came March 20.

A 45-year-old man walked by Penokie's parked pickup truck at the Texaco station on U.S. 19 and Flora Avenue, where Penokie was pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Sheena, Lady and Baby stood in the back of the white Ford pickup.

As the man walked by, one dog reached out and bit the man's upper left arm, and another nipped his right index finger, according to county reports.

Penokie said the man stumbled into his truck twice, and Lady only bit him to defend her master's truck.

Penokie points to a grease smudge on his rear-view mirror - proof, he says, that the man touched his truck.

"If I put my hand in somebody else's vehicle and there's a dog inside, I expect to get bit," he said.

He also says all of the bites came from Lady.

Because the man could not identify which dog or dogs bit him, however, Animal Control took all three into quarantine.

After officers saw the files on six other attacks blamed on Penokie's dogs - including a 2001 case in which Penokie refused to hand over his dogs for quarantine, insisting on their innocence - attorney Wooden decided the usual citations would be of no use.

She came up with a new strategy after talking to officials in Pinellas County. Four years ago, a judge there took away a Dunedin woman's dogs and ruled she couldn't have any new pets at her home.

The woman had ignored the judge's previous orders to keep her feisty dogs under control, Dunedin City Attorney John Hubbard said.

The ruling was based on the idea that dogs are potentially dangerous pieces of property, like guns or hazardous chemicals, he said.

The judge can bar someone from having them, now and in the future, once he determines the owner "is unable or unwilling to control property that endangers others," Hubbard said.

For now, Sheena and Baby remain at the Animal Control shelter, a place Penokie calls "the jail." He says they are being wrongfully detained, because it was Lady alone who bit the man at the gas station.

Lady, a playful 80-pounder who was about 5 years old, died at the shelter last month. County officials suspect parvo, a virus that attacks the dog's intestines, but Penokie believes his loyal dog died of a broken heart.

Penokie gave Rock, the only male in the group, to a friend. He won't say where Kobie is. And under the judge's June 3 order, Penokie has 30 days to get rid of five puppies, the litter from Rock and Kobie.

If the judge rules against Penokie on Aug. 6, the county would get permanent custody of Sheena and Baby.

At that point, the Animal Control shelter could make the dogs available for adoption. If no one takes the dogs, however, they could be destroyed.

His driver's license and registration suspended for failing to pay child support, Penokie no longer can run his lawn care business, leaving him with no money to hire an attorney, he said.

When his day comes in court Aug. 6, he will simply tell his side.

"They're my life. I love them," he said. "That's what makes me me."