Royce Back Home, Not Pitbul Afterall

[tarope]

High price for freedom

BY RODERICK SHAW

13 Apr, 2010 09:09 AM

ROYCE the dog has come home to his Blacktown owner, Jock Coulter, seven weeks after his removal by Blacktown pound.

``I'm ecstatic; I just felt elation when told I could take him home,'' Mr Coulter said.

``He's my best friend; the only one happy to see me every day.''

Royce, a 13-year-old mastiff-cross, was seized by Blacktown pound officers who said he was a pit bull and therefore a dangerous dog.

However, Mr Coulter said Royce was not a pit bull, nor had he ever attacked anyone or another animal.

Blacktown councillor and veterinarian, Russ Dickens, said he had treated the dog for years and had never heard any complaints about him.

Mr Coulter also said he was told he had to build a backyard enclosure for Royce, which he said cost him a great deal of money.

But last week he had his dog professionally assessed for its breed.

``She [the assessor] said Royce was half mastiff and half ridgeback,'' he said.

He said the pound then allowed him to take Royce home and wished them well.

Mr Coulter said he was happy to have his dog home, but unhappy about what had happened to him.

``Look at the costs I've incurred building that cage in my backyard,'' he said.

``I still don't know what Royce is supposed to have done.

``It's ground me down; I can't say what it's done to me.''

Mr Coulter said he was worried the same thing could happen to another dog owner.

Cr Dickens has asked Blacktown Council officers for an explanation of the affair.

The Sun contacted Blacktown Council for comment, but it could not reply in time for publication.

In the meantime, Mr Coulter is dismantling the cage once meant for Royce.

``I'll keep a bit of it for a garden shed,'' he said.

[Mila's Mum]

What a relief for them both - a great result .... eventually - shame it took that long for the assessment to happen

Edited April 16, 2010 by Mila's Mum

[mantis]

What a beautiful big boofa, so happy he is back home. If I was the owner I would sue the council for the cost of the cage & the mental anguish that the owner must have suffered, having his old friend taken from him. It is a bloody disgrace, that the poor dog in it's twilight years has had to go through being separated from his owner & locked up in a strange place.

[tarope]

Mr Coulter said the pound then allowed him to take Royce home and wished them well.

If the council did that to me I'd make them wish they'd never heard of me.

This poor man's dog should never been taken in the first place.