More Dogs Sentenced to Die in Oregon

Cheryl Train's dogs impounded, sentenced to die near Lebanon, Oregon

Sherry & Les Wood's dogs impounded, sentenced to die near Klamath Falls Oregon

Take Action - Who to Contact

Cody - Photo Courtesy Albany Democrat-Herald

Linn County Sentences 2 Dogs to Die. One already killed.

On Friday, January 16th the Linn County Board of Commissioners issued an edict of execution for two dogs allegedly seen chasing sheep near Lebanon Oregon on January 7th. The 2 dogs, Billy (a Cockapoo-Pug mix) and Cody (a Chesapake Bay Retriever) owned by Cheryl Train, were impounded after a local farmer, Jack Lafranchise called county animal control. Lafranchise stated that he owned the sheep and would have shot the dogs himself right then, however did not do so because they were too close to a major highway.

After being falsely threatened with jail by county animal control officers for initially refusing to turn over her dogs, Ms. Train under duress consented to the euthanization of Billy. She refused to consent to the death of Cody, however, since he had been specifically trained not to chase livestock.

Billy was euthanized immediately.

The remaining death sentence against Cody has been appealed by attorney Robert Babcock. Babcock was also the attorney in the case of Nadas.

In an interview with Ark Online, Ms. Train indicated that she thought she had been set up. Evidently a year ago Ms. Train owned a dog that killed one of Mr. Lefranchise's sheep. She had the dog euthanized. However Mr. Lefranchise insisted she also pay for the cost of the sheep. Although she agreed to do so, Ms. Train had not been able to come up with the money.

On the day her dogs were supposedly chasing livestock, they came back to the house with wet fur. Cheryl Train is certain they were playing in a ditch filled with water in an area that is far from where the sheep are located.

In addition Mr. Lefranchise lists as his witness to the chasing, a Mr. Robert Babcock. This Mr. Babcock is not the attorney, but in fact is an advocate of the current livestock law. The fact that his name is the same as the attorney is an interesting coincidence. What is more interesting, however, is how this particularly active proponent of the livestock law just happened to be on Mr. Lefranchise's property when these two dogs were allegedly chasing sheep.

On March 31st, Linn County announced the passage of a new ordinance that permits the county to designate a dog as "potentially dangerous" and order its removal from the county.  Apparently the ordinance was designed with Cody in mind.   At a hearing on April 2nd, Cody was so designated and the commissioners ordered that he not be returned to Cheryl Train, however he may be spared if he can be placed outside of the county.  The breeder that originally sold Cody to Ms. Train, and who lives outside of Linn County has offered to take him back.  Attorney Babcock told us that Cheryl has 10 days to determine whether to accept the offer or to appeal.

Photo by Gary Thain courtesy Klamath Falls Herald & News

Dogs slip out of kennel, are caught chasing sheep and sentenced to die

Les and Sherry Wood had just moved from downtown Klamath Falls to her new house in the country on 5 acres. They had built a kennel for their dogs Sebastian and Jake, at the new house. Sherry put both dogs in the kennel for the night. The morning of January 14th, the dogs managed to trip the latch of the kennel and ran into a neighbor's pasture where sheep were present and started chasing the sheep. The owner of the sheep chased the dogs into another yard where there were horses present. Klamath County Animal Control was called and the dogs were found in the horse stable where they were impounded.

Ms. Wood has pleaded with Mikell Boshuizn the owner of the sheep, offering to pay for any losses or damages. Ms. Wood then offered the services of her husband, a contractor, to do work for them, and the owner still refused. Ms. Wood then explained that one of the dogs was a city dog from Southern California, and belonged to her mother. Wouldn't it be possible to return the dog to California? However, Ms. Boshuizn refused to consider any options except pressing charges for death for the two dogs.

The county hearing was held Thursday January 29th and the dogs were sentenced to die. The Commissioners insisted that should the Wood family want to appeal, they would have to come up with $1000 by Monday February 2nd, or the dogs would be put to death. The money was to cover the cost, at $10 per day, of impoundment of each dog between January 14th and January 29th, plus an additional 60 days of impoundment fees paid in advance.

The Wood family had hired a Klamath Falls attorney to represent them however Klamath Falls is a small town and that attorney was intimidated by county officials regarding the effect of his taking this case on future business he might hope to get there.  Robert Babcock, attorney for the other death row dogs has now taken the case.  In the meantime, the cash strapped Wood family had to pay the $1000 to keep their dogs alive for the appeal.

Contact the Klamath Falls County Commissioners and tell them that the public scrutiny that resulted in Jackson County over the Nadas case will surely happen in their county as well.