I Hate Dogs and I Am Not a Horrible Human Being
How To Toilet Train A Dog Who Just Doesn't Get It, By Award-winning Trainer Ben Randall
Over the past two years our award-winning dog trainer Ben Randall has been sharing his advice with Country Life readers.
Award-winning dog trainer Ben Randall explains how to help your dog get used to loud noises.
Ben Randall explains his simple technique for calming down an overexcited or nervous dog who has stopped responding to your
The conflict between cats and dogs seems to be as old as time, but it really doesn't have to be
What to do when your four-legged friend becomes a four-legged alarm clock.
Ben Randall: Ask Country Life's canine agony uncle a question about your dog 'My dog is scared of loud noises — and now a building site has appeared next door. What can I do?' Expert trainer Ben Randall shares his advice How a dog taught me an unbeatable technique for calming down a misbehaving dog, by A-list trainer Ben RandallFeds Sue East Hampton Agency After Teen's Emotional Support Dog Banned From Apartment
The entrance to the Accabonac Apartments in East Hampton, where a new federal lawsuit alleges housing law was violated when a teen was banned for about a year and a half from living with his emotional support dog. Credit: Gordon M. Grant
A new federal lawsuit alleges an East Hampton agency violated federal housing law by refusing to let a teenager with "mental health and other medical conditions" live with his emotional support dog for about a year and a half before reversing its stance.
The East Hampton Housing Authority repeatedly denied resident Kerry Morouney's request for her son's dog, a morkie named Lucky, to live in the Accabonac Apartments unit where the family has resided since April 2021, according to the complaint.
The agency, which has its own board of commissioners and isn't funded through town taxes, manages affordable housing developments.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found "reasonable cause existed to believe that illegal discriminatory housing practices had occurred," according to the lawsuit.
HUD referred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which filed the litigation on May 9 on the family's behalf and later declined to comment. Morouney, 36, cited legal advice while declining to comment in an email.
The lawsuit names the housing authority, its executive director, Catherine Casey, and the property owner, Seymour Schutz LLC, as defendants. Attorney Suzanne Marie Messer, of Syracuse, who represents the defendants, and Casey didn't return requests for comment.
The litigation says in February 2021, Casey told Morouney only "bona fide service animals" were allowed in the apartment complex and an emotional support dog was considered a pet. It says the housing authority then reversed its stance in October 2022.
But in the months without Lucky, the young man, then 14 and 15, suffered "increased night terrors, panic attacks, insomnia, nauseousness, vomiting, and decreased appetite," and missed "significant time" in school, according to the complaint.
It says the teenager has "major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, insomnia with night terrors, irritable bowel syndrome and eosinophilic esophagitis."
The teenager's health improved once Lucky moved in again, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges the housing authority violated protections for people with disabilities under the federal Fair Housing Act by "refusing to make reasonable accommodations to their rules, policies, or services." It says HUD issued guidance in 2020 stating that "assistance animals are not pets."
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for out-of-pocket expenses and emotional distress.
Elizabeth Grossman, executive director of the Fair Housing Justice Center, a nonprofit focused on eliminating housing discrimination in the New York City region, said federal government officials can use this type of litigation "as an example to prevent similar actions by other housing providers."
Residents in 25 units at Accabonac Apartments get rent assistance through the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, according to the housing authority. The program helps very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled afford housing.
The lawsuit says Morouney's family was living in Utah in early 2021 when she began transferring a housing choice voucher to the East Hampton Housing Authority to move into Accabonac Apartments. A housing authority employee noted in a February 2021 email to Morouney that emotional support dogs were prohibited, according to the complaint.
Morouney and her son had been living with Lucky since 2018. The dog, which was in training to be a service dog, helped comfort the boy during panic attacks, the lawsuit says.
It adds that the mother submitted documentation from her son's medical provider, citing his health history and the benefit of an emotional support dog. But without approval to bring the dog to the new apartment, the family left Lucky with a friend in Illinois before moving to East Hampton in 2021, according to the complaint.
It says Morouney requested a "reasonable accommodation to keep Lucky" that May after her son's health declined while living without Lucky, but the housing authority said having a dog "would jeopardize" their tenancy.
The mother filed a complaint with HUD in June 2021 before the department "attempted conciliation without success," according to the lawsuit.
A new federal lawsuit alleges an East Hampton agency violated federal housing law by refusing to let a teenager with "mental health and other medical conditions" live with his emotional support dog for about a year and a half before reversing its stance.
The East Hampton Housing Authority repeatedly denied resident Kerry Morouney's request for her son's dog, a morkie named Lucky, to live in the Accabonac Apartments unit where the family has resided since April 2021, according to the complaint.
The agency, which has its own board of commissioners and isn't funded through town taxes, manages affordable housing developments.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found "reasonable cause existed to believe that illegal discriminatory housing practices had occurred," according to the lawsuit.
HUD referred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office, which filed the litigation on May 9 on the family's behalf and later declined to comment. Morouney, 36, cited legal advice while declining to comment in an email.
The lawsuit names the housing authority, its executive director, Catherine Casey, and the property owner, Seymour Schutz LLC, as defendants. Attorney Suzanne Marie Messer, of Syracuse, who represents the defendants, and Casey didn't return requests for comment.
The litigation says in February 2021, Casey told Morouney only "bona fide service animals" were allowed in the apartment complex and an emotional support dog was considered a pet. It says the housing authority then reversed its stance in October 2022.
But in the months without Lucky, the young man, then 14 and 15, suffered "increased night terrors, panic attacks, insomnia, nauseousness, vomiting, and decreased appetite," and missed "significant time" in school, according to the complaint.
It says the teenager has "major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, insomnia with night terrors, irritable bowel syndrome and eosinophilic esophagitis."
The teenager's health improved once Lucky moved in again, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges the housing authority violated the law by not letting Lucky, an emotional support dog, live in an East Hampton apartment with a teenager who has "mental health and other medical conditions" for 19 months. Credit: Kerry Morouney
The lawsuit alleges the housing authority violated protections for people with disabilities under the federal Fair Housing Act by "refusing to make reasonable accommodations to their rules, policies, or services." It says HUD issued guidance in 2020 stating that "assistance animals are not pets."
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for out-of-pocket expenses and emotional distress.
Elizabeth Grossman, executive director of the Fair Housing Justice Center, a nonprofit focused on eliminating housing discrimination in the New York City region, said federal government officials can use this type of litigation "as an example to prevent similar actions by other housing providers."
Residents in 25 units at Accabonac Apartments get rent assistance through the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program, according to the housing authority. The program helps very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled afford housing.
The lawsuit says Morouney's family was living in Utah in early 2021 when she began transferring a housing choice voucher to the East Hampton Housing Authority to move into Accabonac Apartments. A housing authority employee noted in a February 2021 email to Morouney that emotional support dogs were prohibited, according to the complaint.
Morouney and her son had been living with Lucky since 2018. The dog, which was in training to be a service dog, helped comfort the boy during panic attacks, the lawsuit says.
It adds that the mother submitted documentation from her son's medical provider, citing his health history and the benefit of an emotional support dog. But without approval to bring the dog to the new apartment, the family left Lucky with a friend in Illinois before moving to East Hampton in 2021, according to the complaint.
It says Morouney requested a "reasonable accommodation to keep Lucky" that May after her son's health declined while living without Lucky, but the housing authority said having a dog "would jeopardize" their tenancy.
The mother filed a complaint with HUD in June 2021 before the department "attempted conciliation without success," according to the lawsuit.
Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
Nassau County Judge Sets Aside Guilty Animal Cruelty Verdict Against Peter Galantino In Death Of 9-year-old Yorkie
Mocha, a 9-year-old Yorkie, died following a heated argument in 2020. Credit: Courtesy of Elizabeth Joyce
A Nassau County judge set aside the verdict against the owner of a Long Island soccer league found guilty of killing Mocha, a 4-pound Yorkie, during an argument with the dog's owner, who said he failed to curb his Goldendoodle.
Peter Galantino, 63, of Hempstead, was convicted in January of aggravated animal cruelty, misdemeanor animal torture and criminal mischief for causing the teacup dog's death during a neighborhood disagreement that escalated into a screaming match with Mocha's owner, Elizabeth Joyce.
The dispute erupted in the early days of the pandemic on March 14, 2020, when Joyce and her husband, James, a retired NYPD K9 trainer, testified they saw Galantino's dog, Louie, squat on a neighbor's lawn in the Cathedral Gardens section of the township, according to testimony.
The couple hurried after him with their German shepherd, Aoife, and Mocha.
When confronted, Galantino refused to pick up the dog poop, prompting the argument.
"Hey, your dog just pooped right over here," James Joyce told the jury during direct testimony. "I said, 'Come on back and look. Come clean it up.' "
During a heated exchange, the Goldendoodle jumped up on Elizabeth Joyce, prompting her to shake the dog off her leg, she said.
Galantino interpreted that as an act of aggression, prompting him to kick Mocha.
Galantino does not dispute kicking the dog, but the parties disagree on how high and far the pet flew.
"I saw something soaring through the air and I realized that it was Mocha," James Joyce told the jury. His wife said the dog cleared the telephone wire overhead.
Galantino took the stand in his defense, saying the German shepherd intimidated him.
"I wasn't upset. I was afraid," he said. "They were strangers who I didn't know yelling at me. The man who was a good deal taller than me had a German shepherd who was ferocious and it was growling at me."
After the conviction, defense lawyer Susan Carman asked presiding Supreme Court Justice Howard Sturim, whose Irish doodle support dog, Barney, accompanies him at the bench, to set aside the verdict because one kick does not meet the legal definition of aggravated animal cruelty.
The judge agreed.
"While there was conflicting testimony from the complainants and the defendant regarding how far the dog traveled after it was struck ... It is undisputed that the defendant kicked the dog once and it died as a result of the injuries sustained from the single kick which caused it to go airborne, and its subsequent contact with the pavement when it landed," the judge wrote in his decision. "The question is, based upon the prevailing case law and the evidence at trial, were the defendant's actions sadistic, depraved, or heinous, or were they intended to cause extreme physical pain to the animal."
The judge ruled the facts presented at trial were "not legally sufficient to establish the felony offense."
Galantino will be sentenced on the remaining misdemeanor charges.
"We are grateful for the Court's careful analysis of the facts and the law," Carman said. "The trial process can be driven off course by real and heartfelt emotion, as it was here. When this happens, it is the Judge's obligation to make sure that reason governs and that justice is served."
The Nassau County District Attorney's Office is weighing an appeal.
The Joyces did not respond to a request for comment.
Comments
Post a Comment