NEWBURY PARK : 2 Dogs Returned to Owners After Attack

Two Rottweiler dogs have been released from the pound and returned to their Newbury Park owners, five weeks after attacking two joggers and just days before the animals were scheduled to be destroyed.

The dogs, Rommel and Heidi, were judged not dangerous after a dramatic, four-hour-long hearing earlier this month. But Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control officials found that the dogs’ owners, the Hale family, had been negligent in allowing the dogs to escape and threaten neighbors.

To get the dogs back, the Hales had to pay boarding fees, promise to keep the dogs locked up and buy an insurance policy for $100,000 in liability coverage. If the conditions were not met in 15 days, the dogs were to be killed.

It was the insurance that posed a problem. The Hales said they spent days calling dozens of insurance companies without finding one willing to write a policy that included the dogs.

On Friday, however, the Hales located an insurance company that agreed to provide $100,000 worth of coverage for them and the dogs for a $500 annual premium. They signed the policy Friday morning and then picked up the dogs.

“It’s definitely a lot happier around the Hale house today,” Rocky Hale said Saturday. “We weren’t going to have much of a Christmas. Now it’s like everything’s been lifted off us.”

Hale said Rommel’s weight had dropped from 135 pounds to 90 pounds during 37 days at the pound. And he said both Heidi and Rommel were sick with kennel cough.

Despite their illness, the dogs seemed pleased to be home, he said. “They’re here and they’re happy,” he said.