Real Bite: Legal Realism and Meaningful Rational Basis in Dog Law and Beyond

Authors

Ann L. Schiavone

Document Type

Article

Abstract

On August 5, 2002, the City of Toledo, Ohio issued a warrant for the arrest ofresident Paul Tellings on the charge of violating the limitation on harboring vicious dogs.¹ Both the Toledo ordinance and Ohio state law in effect in 2002 labeled “pitbull” type dogs per se vicious purely based on their visual identification.² Toledo’sordinance specifically limited citizens to only one “vicious” dog per household.³ During a routine lead-based paint inspection4 in Tellings’s home, the health inspector noted three dogs that looked like pit bulls in the household, reported it to the dog warden,⁵ and set in motion a legal action that proceeded all the way through the state’s highestcourt, and ended in a denial of certiorari from the United States Supreme Court.⁶

Repository Citation

Schiavone, A. L. (2016). Real Bite: Legal Realism and Meaningful Rational Basis in Dog Law and Beyond. William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 25 (1). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/law-faculty-scholarship/51