Dog Trainer Disputes Allegations of Cruelty
November 6, 2003
www.toledoblade.com
Bowling Green - Clayton "Tom" Sheperd stood before jurors in his misdemeanor
animal cruelty trial yesterday and showed the different parts of an open,
homemade trailer he designed to transport his sled dogs.
He crouched on a cement floor and pointed to the vehicle’s extra rear
lights, and he explained how he takes special care to ensure the dogs do not
have to face car headlights or water splashing up from the road.
The former boat trailer, which includes plastic barrels that are used as the
dogs’ riding and living quarters, is the subject of an unusual case expected
to resume for closing arguments Monday in Bowling Green Municipal Court.
Mr. Sheperd, 62, formerly of Haskins, was charged with cruelty to animals after a resident saw his trailer parked outside the Woodland Mall on April 10 and contacted the Wood County Humane Society.
Mr. Sheperd’s 14 huskies were chained to their barrels on the trailer.
Authorities confiscated the dogs and the trailer.
The dogs remain in court-approved homes, while the trailer remains in storage at the Bowling Green Municipal Court building, where jurors have viewed it.
Prosecutors charge the trailer was a cruel way to transport the dogs, which Mr. Sheperd said he’s training to run in the Alaskan Iditarod.
But Mr. Sheperd, along with six people who testified on his behalf yesterday afternoon, maintains the trailer is a safe way of transporting the animals.
The dogs sleep and spend much of their time in the trailer, while Mr. Sheperd said his primary living quarters have been inside his Jeep, which he said is complete with a stove.
In recent years, Mr. Sheperd said he has put more than 7,000 miles on the trailer while traveling to sled dog races across the Midwest.
Mr. Sheperd said he has never experienced a safety problem involving one of the dogs.
"I have a lot of people who think it’s awfully neat, " Mr. Sheperd said of the trailer.
The dogs, he testified, are fed eight times during their training period.They eat a strict vegetarian diet consisting of oils, grains, wheat germ, and other products.
One of Mr. Sheperd’s friends, Richard Morris of Pemberville, testified yesterday that he believes Mr. Sheperd’s dogs receive better care than some children do.
He said Mr. Sheperd has stopped at his home before, but he has never wanted to sleep inside the house."He didn’t want to leave his family," Mr. Morris said, referring to the dogs.
Under cross-examination, city Prosecutor Matt Reger jumped atop the side of the trailer and asked Mr. Sheperd where the snaps were that Mr. Sheperd said kept grates in place over the barrels.
"You tell me," Mr. Sheperd retorted. "This has been seven months of being held by you people."
Mr. Reger also asked Mr. Sheperd about the chances of the trailer becoming unhitched from his Jeep.
Mr. Sheperd responded by saying he believes it would be impossible.
"I guarantee you, with 30 years experience, it would never break," he said.
