Five pit bulls at Tekoa licensed as of deadline

The deadline for tighter regulations on pit bull dogs in Tekoa passed Sept. 1, and the two weeks since have been more or less calm. The town council passed sweeping regulations on the dogs June 21 after pit bull attacks last spring bloodied one woman and nearly crippled a 31-year-old mare.

Five pit bulls within the city limits were registered with life-time licenses by the Sept. 1 deadline.

Mike Bogenrief, Tekoa code enforcement officer whose position was intentionally created for enforcing the new pit bull code and other town codes, said he has worked with the three owners of pit bulls. All three have been cooperative in buying the $100 licenses.

“They’ve all actually been pretty decent and understanding with what happened with the last two incidences,” Bogenrief said.

Under the new regulations, no new pit bulls can be brought into Tekoa. The existing five pit bulls were grandfathered in under the new regulations.

Along with the $100 license, the three owners must build a special enclosure for the dogs (or have them in the house or garage if not in the enclosure), post a “beware of dog” sign, muzzle the dogs while out on walks and always keep them on a leash.

The pit bull who attacked a Tekoa woman last June had puppies, two of which are part of the group remaining in town.

One of those puppies tried to bite Bogenrief while he was on a domestic violence call mid-summer. The owner of those dogs, Joshua Fox, has purchased licenses for the dogs and is on board with making the mandated enclosure, Bogenrief said.

“That’s the only one I’m worried about. The other one seems to be kind of timid and friendly. The other <aggressive> one tends to be very protective of his property,” Bogenrief said.

One of the three pit bull owners in Tekoa, Portia Pillig, said she was very upset by the new regulation. Her seven-year-old pit bull Rosco has never attacked a human or animal and is always kept inside. To pay the $100 fee, in addition to the strict regulations about walking her dog, were an outrage, she said.

“I think it’s unfair. It’s utterly, utterly unfair. I feel like I’m being persecuted for something I didn’t do,” she said.

She felt the owners of the offending pit bulls should have had individualized restrictions, not the entire population of pit bulls in Tekoa.

“It’s like being against a people- like if they are a certain color, they’ll act a certain way,” she said.

She plans on keeping the dog in spite of the new regulations.

Mayor John Jaeger said hiring Bogenrief as the code enforcement officer ended up rounding out the council’s new ordinance. The new regulations have a better chance of being respected with the enforcement officer, he said.

“We were sort of caught in a quandary, like, ‘What do we do now?’ We felt like a warning just wasn’t enough,” Jaegar said.

Owner of the mare that was attacked, Wendy Sienknecht, said the 31-year-old horse has made a swift recovery in the last three months.

A pit bull in June attacked the mare, ripping off most of the skin on the backs of her front legs. The other two horses in the pen then attacked the dog, kicking it hard enough to stop the attack.

“The scabs are almost gone now,” Sienknecht said. When informed the deadline for the new regulations had passed, Sienknecht said this made her feel more comfortable about the safety of her three horses.

“I think it’s important the city stepped up and did what they had to do,” Sienknecht said. She added it is impossible to ever entirely rule out another dog attack of any kind in the town, but this is a step in the right direction.