Charles Pet Owners Seek Justice

The board found that the dog had killed the cat, and Wells promised to appeal.

Animal board sessions can stretch late into the night -- some hearings have come to an end only because a burglar alarm goes on automatically just before midnight in the Charles County Government Building, Butkiewicz said.

Death sentences are rare -- in the past 14 years, the board has handed down no more than 10, according to Butkiewicz -- but Dominique N. Smith's dog received one of them.

Her pit bull Remy killed a Siberian husky in Waldorf in April and was accused of being vicious and dangerous, a legal term that qualifies it to be euthanized.

Smith told the court that the night before the attack, her dog was restless. She had tied him up as usual, but he kept trying to get free, so she went out to inspect.

"I saw an animal in our back yard, and I'm not sure if that's why," she said, stopping just short of mentioning the attack. "He was a very territorial dog. He loved humans. But there was another dog in our yard, and that might have caused him to attack," she added, already speaking of her dog in the past tense.

Her dog would be sentenced to be euthanized after a short deliberation, but before that, she had a chance to plead for its life. All the legal ceremony of the court gave way. The cross-examinations and entering of evidence didn't matter anymore. The only thing left was a stricken pet owner, futilely professing her love of and fear for her dog.

"My dog is a very, very good dog," Smith said. "I don't know what exactly to say to make you guys realize how important he is to me."