Fur flies over fine after Billy's big escape

Who should pay for service dog's confusion: Braidwood taxpayers or well-meaning volunteer handler?

BRAIDWOOD -- For being such a tiny dog, Billy has created a whole heap of trouble.

The foot-tall pooch -- a Chinese-crested powderpuff pup -- has spent most of his 10 months of life inside Dwight Correctional Facility for Women, where he was being trained as a service dog for the disabled.

But last month he was sprung from those prison walls for the weekend in order to be acclimated to the real world before being sent to the Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota School.

Problem was, Billy wasn't used to life on the outside.

So when trainer Marcia Ramirez was taking him for a walk Oct. 11, around the time a school was being dismissed for the afternoon, he got all excited and made his escape -- clad in blue pajamas, by the way.

His freedom however, was short-lived.

Captured by local police, he was in lockdown at the Braidwood station for a few hours, then sent to county .... Will County Animal Control, that is, where he finally got sprung after his trainer paid a $150 fine for breaking the town's leash law.

But that's not sitting too well with Billy's owner, Sister Pauline Quinn of Marinette, Wis., a longtime advocate of service dogs who insists the animal's special status should get unique consideration of its own.

Quinn said it takes two years to train these dogs, and the biggest issue is finding people who are willing to work with them. Obstacles such as fines and registration fees may deter people from helping such programs.

"This was not done on purpose or out of neglect," she added. "He got away from her after panicking."

The police department sees it another way, of course.

"Tickets and fines help to hold those responsible for the pets accountable so that they will make sure to keep the dogs more secure," said Brandon Myers, Braidwood's acting police chief. "The taxpayers of this city should not be responsible for these types of expenses in relation to a completely preventable offense."

The expenses he is referring to are the cost of capturing the dog and, after no one showed up to claim Billy some four hours later, turning him over to animal control.

Myers said the entire call cost Braidwood taxpayers $348. And the fine, he noted, was only enough to cover the expenses to animal control.

Since May 2009, Braidwood police have received 52 calls of animals running at large and have contacted Will County 39 times, Myers said. The result has been a price tag of $5,930 for animal control alone. The department was successful in locating and ticketing 17 animal owners.

"Our officers," he said, "have been directed to inform the dog owners that the fine could be avoided if they were to register the dog (cost is $5) with the city and receive a tag."

Ramirez, a Braidwood mom who runs the Helping Paws program, gladly paid Billy's $150 fine, appreciative of the fact she didn't have to go back and report the dog was lost.

Billy, of course, is unaware of all the fuss he's caused.

The 10-pound puppy has led a sheltered life inside the prison walls, where he would walk the grounds for exercise, attend chapel with the inmates, and sometimes even go to their choir practices.

Quinn, who has been doing service work since the 1970s and prison work since 1981, is adamant the Helping Paws program at Dwight is more than worth any unexpected costs to taxpayers.

"It helps inmates give back to our society, not only to put dogs back into the community who will become good citizens but to help the handicapped as well," she said.

Quinn also insists Illinois law waives certain license fees for service dogs.

However, Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Justice, said there is not a blanket exemption for service animals under leash laws.

But some insist that needs to change.

Donna Sawver, Pathways of Hope Prison Dog project manager of California who has worked with Quinn for years, was "shocked" when she heard the story.

"I cannot imagine anyone in your community," she said, "would be chastised in such a way that would make it prohibitive ... to continue helping this wonderful cause."