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“My dog is not my property, my dog is a member of my family,” Lauren Claus, the owner of the chihuahua who was recently attacked on the Upper West Side told ABC7. More updates are unfolding on Penny, the resilient 10-year-old service dog, as the community rallies to demand change.
Penny was released from BluePeal animal hospital earlier this week after she was mauled by two pit bulls on Saturday in front of Viand (at the corner of Columbus and West 85th Street). She is slowly improving; her owner shared a video in a private Facebook group of Penny taking her first short walk after the attack.
Following the gruesome ordeal, the community is rallying around Penny and is demanding legislative change. An estimated 200+ people joined in person and virtually via Zoom for Wednesday’s Community Board 7 meeting with Councilwoman Gale Brewer, members of the NYPD 20th Precinct, and a member of Manhattan’s District Attorney’s office. Community members took turns speaking on the incident, sharing alleged similar experiences with the same dog owner.
One community member’s remarks from the meeting are circulating on social media.
The amazing speech from Karen the dog walker at this afternoon’s Town Hall
byu/Stubbedtoe24 inUpperwestside
“Those dogs, he’s using [them] as dangerous weapons,” said dog walker Karen Kramer. In the video, she goes on to reference the lack of “paper trail” from the NYPD, and holds up the stained shirt she was wearing while she rushed Penny to BluePearl animal hospital.
Kramer also claimed she was able to do some investigating of her own, alleging the suspect has been contacted by the police for several other incidents including Child Protective Services. She urged the officers, “Maybe [instead of] waiting until some kid gets his face ripped off, why don’t you try to prevent future things from happening?” A recording of the meeting via Zoom can be found here.
After the meeting Claus took the Upper West Side Dog Facebook Group group thanking everyone for attending, adding “the fact that we packed the room shows everyone we mean business!”
Claus has also shared a reminder to community members to be mindful as to where their anger is being directed, as one local resident, Mando Saez, told Claus he is being mistaken for the suspect. She wrote to community members, “I understand Penny’s situation is anger inducing but we can’t be blind with rage.” Saez lives in the neighborhood, looks physically similar to the suspect, and also has two pit bulls. Saez shared a comment stating that while he “feels terrible” if he’s “taking any attention away from Penny,” he has been consistently harassed and had several racist remarks made against him.
URGENT! Innocent UWS man being harassed with his fur family, Please Stop
byu/DirectorChick inUpperwestside
Penny’s story has continued to gain traction, bolstered by community support and news coverage on networks including PIX11 and ABC7. Penny and Claus even sat down for an interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation. According to the network, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has assigned an assistant district attorney to investigate the brutal attack. The growing media attention has also sparked renewed calls for legislative action.
Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar has introduced “Penny’s Law,” which aims to hold irresponsible pet owners held criminally accountable for pet-on-pet violence.
I was horrified to learn Penny the chihuahua was hospitalized when a couple let their pitbulls attack her on the UWS. The same owners are believed to have let the dogs kill another dog. That this is not a crime is a wakeup call to update our laws ASAP. I am introducing a bill now pic.twitter.com/nxWcdAnGpz
— Jenifer Rajkumar (@JeniferRajkumar) May 4, 2025
According to QNS.com, while introducing the bill Rajkumar said,“Penny’s tragedy and numerous others are 100% preventable if negligent dog owners know they cannot get away with it. When Penny’s Law passes, we will end these tragedies for good, showing that we are a society that values and cherishes our canine family.”
Some quotes have been edited for clarity.
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Whatever happened to the HUMAN BEING being dragged INTO THE STREET by his hair by the male owner of the pit bulls? How is that not aggravated assault? This was recorded on some Good Samaritan’s iPhone as the horrible scene with Penny unfolded. As much
as these people need to have their dogs removed from their custody, this owner needs to be brought up on charges of assaulting another person. How is it the DA and the police cannot act on this? Does the individual being dragged into harm’s way have to press charges FIRST before police can do anything? If so, why isn’t a crime a crime whether or not a third party files charges? I’m not understanding the logic or the law here.
The man was interviewed by the NYPD, but refused to press charges!
BAN PIT BULLS NOW!
It is not about the breed. It is about the training (or lack thereof). I know plenty of loving, sweet and perfectly safe pit bulls. Stop blaming the breed!
I still don’t understand why the owner of the bit bulls can’t be identified.
They HAVE been identified, and the NYPD is very well aware of them. The issue is that there are not currently enough – or applicable – laws to justify removal of the animals, much less putting them down. Gale Brewer (and others) are working to close loopholes in the current laws, and create new laws that will gave the NYPD, Animal Control and the D.A.’s office greater ability to do so.
What happened to this very cute little dog is bad enough and needs no embellishment.
So please, stop with the ‘service dog’ stuff. It’s insulting to anyone’s intelligence. A service dog is a highly trained animal that actually does things for its owner such as guide, operate lights, etc.
And the owners of Penny share custody. If she’s a service dog what does the disabled owner do in the 50% of the time their ex has custody?
Penny, like 99.8% of all pets, is an emotional support dog. How do I know? Because 99.8% of pets give emotional support to their owners. That’s why they’re kept. And why we consider that a concept — given that almost all pets can properly be considered ’emotional support?’
You tell me.
Setting aside that I have never heard Penny’s OWNERS claim that she is a “service animal” (that phrase was first used by Fox News, which is notorious for misquoting or simply adding things the person never said), let’s assume she IS an emotional support animal. (And I do appreciate you pointing out the difference between “service animals” and “emotional support animals.” But this distinction is ONLY relevant to ADA laws; i.e., “service animals” are covered under the ADA, while emotional support animals are not. But this situation had nothing to do with ADA laws.) This does not lessen the horror of this incident, or the culpability of the pit bull owners or their dogs.
That said, your question about emotional support animals is certainly relevant to the degree that, as you point out, ALL pets provide some degree of “emotional support” to their owners. But most dog owners do NOT categorize their pets as “emotional support animals.”
On the other hand, all too many dog owners LIE about their pets being “service animals” just so they can bring them into restaurants, and other public spaces where animals other than service animals are not allowed. In fact, to reverse your number, if you ask dog owners on the UWS, 99.8% of them will “claim” that their dog is a service animal because they know restaurant and store owners are loath to challenge them and risk a lawsuit.
In this regard, you are correct: a “service animal” is specially and specifically trained to engage in a specific task or tasks for its owner: obviously seeing eye dogs to help their owners get around, and other service animals who are trained to do everything from open refrigerators and get things for their owners, to being able to detect – in advance – an oncoming epileptic attack or other dangerous condition. They are also trained specifically NOT to react to other animals or humans by barking or engaging in physical altercations.
Emotional support animals are NOT trained for tasks, and some are not even trained AS emotional support animals. Nor are they trained to not react to other animals or humans.
I used to do fundraising for the Delta Society (now Pet Partners) – at one time the primary service animal training organization in the country – and saw firsthand how real service animals (including dogs, certain monkeys and certain birds) are trained. It is a long process (it takes well over a year), and there is zero tolerance for any deviation: animals that make mistakes or show an inability to be properly trained are dropped from the program.
It is too bad so any dog owners – both those with actual emotional support animals (training for which also takes more than a year) and those simply with pets – wrongly identify their pets just so they can “get away with” bringing them into restaurants and other public spaces where animals are not allowed. It has been a bugaboo of mine for a long time.
On Sunday May 18th between 10 am and 1 pm, the West 72nd Street Block Association is having a Community Buildlng Day. I understand that Simon the Dog Mayor of New York City will be attending at 10 am. Lauren Claus: please bring Penny, whom we hope continues to heal, to meet the Dog Mayor of NYC. Simon is a Bassett-Cattle.
Penny’s mom is asking the community if anyone has any footage or photographs or security camera footage to please send it to her at her email justiceforpennyclaus@gmail.com you can see details on her reddit post on the upperwestside subreddit thank you so much
The title of this article is misleading, since it does NOT talk about “everything that’s happened since Penny the chihuahua’s attack.” So let me “complete” the article by doing so.
There are currently only about four or five laws on the books that deal with situations like this – and they are not strong or solid enough to justify removing the dogs from their owners, much less putting the dogs down. Gale Brewer and other City legislators – as well as UWS Assembly member Linda Rosenthal and some of HER colleagues – are writing laws that will both close loopholes in the current laws, and create new, solid laws that will give the NYPD, Animal Control and the D.A.’s office more to work with with regard to pet-on-pet violence – including the culpability of the attacking pet’s owner(s).
Now that this issue is front and center the few laws that do exist have “risen to the top” at the NYPD, which is planning training sessions (possibly including mandatory video training) on what they can and cannot do under the current laws. Once the new laws are promulgated (and that takes time), the NYPD will be trained in the new law as well.
Keep in mind that legislation does not occur overnight. It takes time. And while one would think that this issue – and laws addressing it – would be a no-brainer – there will be Council members and Assembly members who are against them. So you need to lobby both our own elected legislators AND determine which ones are against the laws and lobby THEM as well.
Once the City Council introduces the new laws (which need to be solid and broad), you need to lobby the Council to pass them, after which you need to lobby the mayor to sign them. Same with the Assembly.
The D.A.’s office is looking into several different possible charges against this couple and their dogs, including animal cruelty, neglect, and illegal training for dog fighting, to domestic issues, including child abuse/neglect and endangering the welfare of minors.
In the meantime, while there is little we can do at this moment, you should still report any incidents you witness involving this couple and its dogs, even if the NYPD cannot take a formal incident report.
Setting aside that there were over 300 people in the room (not including those on Zoom), I do have a question about one thing.
Assembly member Rosenthal wants to classify dogs as “sentient beings” in order to strengthen the laws re dog-on-dog attacks. But wouldn’t that work both ways; i.e., would that not also give the attacking dog(s) certain “new rights” under the law?
If so, this may not be the best approach.