by Alex Brooks
Two dogs escaped their enclosure last week and got into the pen of three horses at a neighboring farm. One of them was shot by the owner of the horses, Dan Sidor of Snow’s Farm in Stephentown.
[private]
Alysia Guilbeault’s two dogs, Roscoe and Gunner, ran through their electric fence and off her property on the morning of July 29. She chased after them but they got away, and she began searching for them immediately. Her husband was at work, and she is nearly eight month pregnant, so she called her mother Lorri Parisi to help search. Parisi drove up and down the road searching, and told Sidor and his staff at Snow’s Farm, about a half mile away, that the dogs had gotten loose and left a cell phone number to call if they were sighted. But when her daughter got a call from Sidor a half hour later, it was to say that he had shot one of the dogs, and she could come pick up his body.
Guilbeault is heartbroken at the loss of her beloved pet, a two year old boxer named Gunner. Her other dog, a five year old boxer named Roscoe, was standing nearby when she came to pick up Gunner’s body. She believes Roscoe’s fear of firearms saved him. She thinks he probably ran when he saw the gun.
The Eastwick Press could not reach Sidor before press time, but he told a Times Union reporter that the dog had his horses cornered in their pen and they were very agitated and afraid, and he was worried that they would injure themselves or get loose.
Guilbeault said she does not believe Gunner was a real threat to the horses, as he has never shown any aggression, and he was gentle with all creatures that he encountered.
The State Police were called out, but they did not cite anyone. Agriculture and Markets law allows farmers to protect their livestock, even to the point of using deadly force, if they are threatened by a dog.[/private]