Neighborly Ties Gone to the Dogs

"This is just something she does. It became an issue for my dogs even touching a blade of grass on the same street we live on," Johnson said.

The dispute polarized neighbors in the quiet St. Leonard subdivision known as Old Glory. Some took the Barths' side, arguing that Johnson antagonized the family. Others favored Johnson, saying they now walk their dogs the other way on Constitution Drive to avoid the ire of the state police sergeant down the street. Most said they tried to keep out of it.

"I think it's too bad," said Wendy Kilbourne, 51. "I think both of them are pushing it past where it needs to go."

Animal control officials say neighborly squabbles involving pets are common. But often, they add, the fights have more to do with underlying problems than they do with dogs, and they are usually resolved without an arrest.

"A lot of this has to do more with some ongoing dispute with neighbors than it does . . . with the animal in the middle of it," said Stephen Dickstein, director of the Animal Services Division for the Montgomery County Police Department.

Several jurisdictions -- including the District and Calvert, Fairfax and Montgomery counties -- have specific animal control ordinances that subject dog owners who allow their pets on private property to fines or jail time.

Johnson was charged criminally, not under Calvert's animal control ordinance, which would have carried a $50 fine. A single trespassing charge carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

Johnson said she refused to walk across the street, as police suggested, because she feared that those neighbors, too, would berate her and her dogs. Besides, she said, the first few feet of the Barths' yard are public property, belonging to the homeowners association. Cumbo, of the state police, said the Barths' property line extends to the street.

The dispute reached a boiling point May 16, when Jennifer Barth and Johnson got into an argument near the school bus stop in front of the Barths' home. At one point, Johnson said, she stepped onto the Barths' yard and asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Did I think I'd be dragged away and off to prison? Absolutely not," she said.

The next morning, state troopers showed up at her door, charging her with four counts of trespassing, one count of harassment and one count of disorderly conduct. They handcuffed her, shackled her legs and took her to the Calvert County Detention Center, where she was held for several hours until she was released on her own recognizance. The dogs stayed in her home during that time.

Cumbo said Johnson was shackled because troopers had to call the corrections department for a female officer. It is standard procedure to use shackles, he said.

And the damage the two poodles could have caused the grass? Visible burnout patches on it, caused by nitrogen and salt in the dogs' urine, but nothing too significant, experts said.

"The bottom line is if you have something like a 15- to 20-pound dog, you're looking at a potential damage of a 10-centimeter-diameter scar which could be left," said Cale Bigelow, an assistant professor of agronomy at Purdue University specializing in turfgrass science. "I think you could slap a piece of sod in it and just walk away."