Byline: Cailin Brown Staff writer
Sister Gloria Petrie moved to this town in September for solitude, peace and prayer.
Her neighbor Bob Strout was also looking for a quiet place to live when he moved next door in February.
Petrie brought with her two German shepherds, Michael and Hildegard, both named after saints.
Strout brought his two pit bulls, Trapper and Shayla.
What has developed between these two neighbors and their dogs is a tale of anger and violence, threats and even court action.
Both Trapper and Michael have been maimed in dog fights: The pit bull's head is scarred, the German shepherd has stitches in its foot and hindquarters and gashes in its neck and forehead.
The most recent dog fight, however, a little more than a week ago, has turned this canine clash into a neighborhood nightmare.
Petrie is taking Strout to Town Court on assault charges, claiming that he kicked her while she tried to pry his dog off her dog's back, and Petrie's landlord has given her 30 days to move out because he says she can't control her dogs.
'I feel something has to be done to control these dogs. I want the dogs euthanized,' Petrie, 27, said from her living room, which is decorated with religious portraits and statues, including one of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals.
Petrie, a home health aide nurse in Kingston, says she is a member of the Order of the Holy Virgins, an order of nuns that subscribes to pre-Vatican II doctrine, and is not recognized in the Albany Catholic Diocese or the Archdiocese of New York.
In the most recent dog battle, Petrie used a 70,000-volt stun gun to fend off the pit bull as it chomped on her dog.
'I was stunning him. It didn't stop him,' Petrie said. 'I was panic-stricken.'
'The owner kicked me in the right hip because I was trying to get his dog off my dog,' said Petrie, who got teary-eyed a number of times when she spoke of the dog fights.
Strout, however, a residence counselor for the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled in Ulster County, denies ever kicking Petrie.
In defense of their dogs, both Strout and Petrie were quick to pull out photos showing their pets with children. Both claim that the photos are proof that their dogs are docile and not the beasts each charges they are.
Strout says his pit bulls are family dogs, and Petrie is using her sister's habit and the pit bull stereotype to work against him.
Given that, the 24-year-old Strout wonders just whom most people would believe.
'This whole thing is because she won't keep her dog on a leash,' Strout said from his porch.
On one occasion, Strout said, Petrie's dogs surrounded his car and he and his fiancee were afraid to get out until Petrie finally called the dogs.
Strout said he was treated last week at Columbia-Greene Medical Center after one of her dogs bit him.
The dog warden and the State Police have both made several visits to the Strout and Petrie homes, and both have been told to keep their dogs leashed.
But their landlord has had it with the dog and people fighting and last week took some action.
'I've had four sets of tenants in the other two houses and each of them have had problems with the nun's dogs,' said Tim Cornelison, both Petrie's and Strout's landlord. 'All four had their own dogs and have not had problems with each other, which shows me that there's something wrong with her dogs.'
'Basically, I'm just kicking her out,' he said. 'I thought, 'This is great, I'll rent it to a nun and I won't have any problems.''
Petrie, however, still contends that the pit bulls are the source of the problem.
The dog named Trapper started biting one of her dogs, and when she could not break them apart, she took a barbecue fork and jabbed it into the dog's head.
'If it persists, I can bring applications for a formal complaint and it can be turned over to the town judge,' said Don Fetty, the dog warden. 'I think what we got here is a little thing where two people don't like one another. It's an odd case, I'll tell you that.'
After a visit to both homes late Friday, Fetty recommended to Strout that he photograph Petrie and her dogs if she is not using leashes.
The crux of the problem, Fetty said, might be the combination of the two dog breeds.
'It's just like people. If you have a combination of two hotheads, they are bound to fight,' Fetty said, adding that none of the four dogs has been vicious in front of him.
'I think the dogs are just dogs. They're just doing what's coming natural to them,' he said.
Trooper Herman Arp of the State Police in Cairo said he was called to the Strout home recently when one of the German shepherds attacked a pit bull.
'I just think it's two neighbors that aren't getting along. It's probably something that could be settled with an intermediary,' he said.
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PHOTO - TIMES UNION PHOTO BY CAILIN BROWN
PETS - Sister Gloria Petrie, shown here with her German shepherds Michael and Hildegard, is in a running battle with a neighbor over their dogs. There have been dog fights and allegations of violence.
