Dogged by the Law, Dalmatian Rescuer Awaits Day in Court

High up along the Ortega Highway, amid towering oaks and pine, dog activist Randy Warner has established his latest--and, authorities hope, last--headquarters for Dalmatian ResQ.

Jailed four times already, Warner faces trial on July 27 for failing to have a kennel license while harboring, by his own count, 17 Dalmatians.

Among them are Maddy, a docile sweetie pie now 16 years old; Megan, whose skull was caved in by a previous owner wielding a metal pipe; and Rocky Retard, an adorable pooch who’s always first in line to eat or go for a ride.

Riverside County animal control officials cited Warner, 43, for keeping too many dogs. He faces fines totaling $130. The required license costs $1,037, and he must spend another $2,700 to install kennels.

It’s money he doesn’t have, Warner insists. In his backyard sits a worn-out, 1977 VW camper, gathering dust and badly in need of $550 worth of transmission work. Meanwhile, Warner says, he spends nearly $1,000 a month on dog food and vet fees keeping the Dalmatians healthy.

“Why should I get a kennel license?” asked Warner, who divides his time between his Lake Forest condo and A-frame house in the mountains, where the Dalmatians have the run of the place. “They just don’t like me rescuing these dogs, who otherwise would be killed in a dog pound.”

Over 18 years, the Ohio State University graduate has forsaken careers in sales, computer programming and the hotel business to save the lives of hundreds of Dalmatians.

It all started, Warner says, when he spotted a Dalmatian at a dog pound that was going to be euthanized. He took the dog home, even though he had been looking for a blue-eyed collie.

Along the way, he has moved around--Costa Mesa, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Los Angeles--while becoming a focus of attention by animal control agencies in Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties.

In October 1996, he was arrested by Orange County sheriff’s deputies for allegedly operating an illegal pig ranch. Brought to the jail in Santa Ana, he was be recognized in booking by an amazed deputy who blurted: “Oh! It’s the Dalmatian man!” The charge was eventually dismissed.

“Even the deputies who arrested me said they knew me as the dog guy because of all the newspaper stories,” he said.

Warner does enjoy the limelight. He once brought 51 Dalmatians on the “Late Show With David Letterman” and was the subject of stories on “Hard Copy,” CNN and the Arsenio Hall and Leeza Gibbons shows.

Recently, his celebrity followed him to court.

Riverside County Court Commissioner Ann Loree, who had read a news article about Warner, cringed when he walked in her courtroom in May.

Before hearing the case, an animal control officer held up the same news story and said that Warner told the journalist he had more dogs than he was cited for. Loree recused herself, saying in court that after reading the article, she admired Warner and his activities. She called him a hero.

The next day, the commissioner’s quotes were in a local newspaper.

Recalled Warner, “When I left her courtroom, the bailiff was so touched with my work that I was handed a check to buy dog food with!”

Ava Park, executive director of Orange County’s People for Animals, the county’s largest animal rights group, describes Warner as a kindhearted Pied Piper of Dalmatians.

“What’s he up to now?” Park asked laughingly. “I think he’s extremely outspoken. They view him as a loose cannon, yet sometimes the truth is hard to hear.”

Park called local animal laws that limit pets “silly” and in need of review. To cite Warner--a well-known dog rescuer and trainer--is ridiculous, Park said, when “hundreds if not thousands of people” in Southern California have more than four animals, the legal limit.

“And, with all the numbers of homeless animals we have, animal owners [with many pets] are doing the county a favor,” Park said.

The increased popularity of the breed following release of the Disney motion picture “101 Dalmatians” has had a down side.

Many people bred Dalmatians intending to capitalize on the movie’s popularity without thinking about the dog’s temperament or of improving the breed.

Parents wanting to make their children happy bought Dalmatian puppies and later found they are temperamental and high-strung and not really good for families with children.

“It wound up with a glut on the market with Dalmatians,” Park said, adding wryly that “those movies should come with a warning: Do not go out and buy the animals depicted in this movie.”

As for Warner, the die is cast. “I just want to make sure that dogs like these are safe or at least have a lovable home somewhere.”