Nearly seven years after a San Francisco woman was killed by
two dogs while attempting to enter her apartment, a Solvang community is
questioning its safety after a local man alleged that two German shepherds
invaded his home and held him at bay on Sept. 27.
The unusual incident reportedly occurred while Richard I.
Jensen, a resident of Solvang, who lives on Alisal Road, heard a racket while
painting an upstairs room in his home.
“I heard this ruckus downstairs… so I went down and all of a
sudden I saw these two big German shepherds,” Jensen said.
When they heard him coming, he said, they made a “mad dash”
towards the door, but as he was heading down the hallway they returned.
“At this point I’m saying ‘get out of here,’ and we used to
have a German shepherd so I knew what you’re supposed to do. But these dogs
were not intimidated, they were growling and they were fierce. So I turned
around slowly and walked slowly into the living room.
“I was going to actually get a gun,” he said. “They could
sense I was going for something and then all of a sudden they turned around and
left.”
After the dogs left the premises around 4:45 p.m., Jensen
called the police.
“I had never seen those dogs before. To me it’s synonymous
for someone coming into my house and pointing a gun to my head,” Jensen said.
“I think if I had a niece or nephew, they would have been
maimed or killed. My neighbor said if it would have been her, they would have
killed her. I really had to fend them off,” he said.
“I’m not just crying wolf; this was a dangerous, dangerous
situation,” he said. “How brazen can dogs get?”
But when police arrived around 5:40 p.m. they could not find
any dogs in the vicinity.
When their investigation turned up no four-legged
perpetrators, the officers called Animal Control. Animal Control also responded
on the evening of the reported incident, but couldn’t find any dogs either,
said Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Erik Raney.
The dogs subsequently
were located by Animal Control during an on-site follow-up Oct. 1, along
with owner Linda Ryles, who also lives on Alisal Road.
“Animal Control did come to the house, but didn’t find any
fault with me,” Ryles said. “It was an alleged incident; unfortunately there
was a repair man at our house and he left our gate open and our dogs got out.
“If anything, they probably thought it was their house that
they were entering,” she said. “So I don’t know if you can call it an invasion;
the dogs are not vicious, one’s a puppy.”
“They are always in the yard,” she said. “We weren’t aware
that the gate had been left open, and it would have been nice for the neighbor
to come and say something to us. As soon as I found out that they had gotten
out I went to look for them.”
Though Ryles has lived in the neighborhood for about four
years, and Animal Control said there were no reported prior incidents at Ryles’
residence, neighbors voiced their opinions and concerns about the incident
nonetheless.
“I was shocked to hear what happened,” said neighbor Andrew
De La Mater. “We have dogs and we either keep them on a leash or keep them
inside our yard.”
Another neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, also
responded.
“I wasn’t very shocked to hear what happened. The dogs were
loose, so it could have happened to anybody. I think I would have called 911 or
left the house.”
The Solvang Sheriff’s Department station also has come under
criticism because it did not file a report about the alleged incident.
“Reports are discretionary, unless it’s a crime report,”
said Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Miller. “There is no hard and fast rule about
when you write a report and when you don’t.”
Sgt. Raney agreed,
saying there are too many calls in one day for officers to file a report on
every single one.
“To file a report every time something happens would be
ideal,” he said. “But you would never have an officer on the street. So you
have to balance that with the need of documenting incidences like this one.”
Ryles has submitted a complaint to the repair installation
company that came to her house and requested that they apologize to Jensen.
She, too, apologized to Jensen.