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Daniel Rubin: Neighbors in fear of Rocky the ridgeback

The moral of this story might be that if you have a pack of Rhodesian ridgeback dogs, named Rocky, Mack, Bear and Duke, you're asking for trouble if they terrorize a former Action News reporter.

The moral of this story might be that if you have a pack of Rhodesian ridgeback dogs, named Rocky, Mack, Bear and Duke, you're asking for trouble if they terrorize a former

Action News

reporter.

For this tale of unexpected menace, we go to picturesque Haddonfield, and a quiet corner of handsome fieldstone homes.

Quiet because the three children of Susanne LaFrankie Principato cannot step on their front lawn without a shudder.

Across the street lives an orthopedic surgeon named Robert Taffet, his wife, Michele, their four children, and four dogs, the latter approaching 100 pounds each.

Ridgebacks come from southern Africa, where they were used to hunt lions. Last Sept. 11 - there's some disagreement about the day - Robert Principato, a radiologist married to the former 6ABC reporter and WPHT radio host, was walking after dinner with their 8-year-old son, Michael, and 20-pound Cavapoo, Charlie.

The four ridgebacks ran loose on the Taffet property, according to a police report. The electric fence failed to contain them, and one of the dogs charged the Principatos, circling as Michael cowered behind his father.

Not all the insecurities people face come from the ravaged economy or major crimes. Sometimes well-being comes down to how safe you feel on your own street.

The incident didn't last long. Michele Taffet was able to call her dog off, and apologized. But the encounter began a chain of legal actions that is still unfolding a year later.

After Susanne LaFrankie Principato complained to police, she summoned her reporting skills and heard that Rocky, the eldest dog, had bitten before - five times, although the Taffets contest some of the facts.

Rocky's night in court

Monday night, Judge John J. Spence Jr. called the parties into his courtroom in the Municipal Building. For 75 minutes, he recapped what had been said over three hearings in the spring, how Michele Taffet had described her husband as the "alpha master," which meant he was leader of the dog pack. And how the mother of a girl Rocky bit at a sleepover had testified that the doctor offered to treat the puncture wounds for free if no one reported the incident. He denied saying that.

Throughout the hearing, the orthopedist sat silently, a compact man in a polo shirt and slacks, gripping the edge of the defendant's table. His wife sat cross-armed behind him. She'd talked in the hall to friends about what an ordeal the case has been for her family.

The judge recalled how another doctor, a cardiologist named Michael Harkins, had testified that in November 2002 he was bitten by Rocky and another Taffet ridgeback, the late Pluto, after he tried to pull them off his golden retriever in Crows Woods. Harkins needed 20 stitches in one arm and 10 in the other. Robert Taffet told police that Harkins' golden had started the fight and was vicious.

More bites

And there was testimony of other incidents, how Rocky had bitten even one of the Taffet children, Sam, and attacked a boy at a Haddonfield Little League game in 2003. The orthopedist called the first matter a claw scratch, and said the ball-game bite came after "some provocation."

In the end, the judge dismissed charges against the other dogs, but found Rocky to be "potentially dangerous." The judge asked the defense attorney and prosecutor to agree on punishment.

Prosecutor Donald S. Ryan said afterward he would push for what's required by law, including a six-foot-high enclosure in the Taffets' yard, the muzzling of Rocky in public, and posted signs marking him as a potential troublemaker.

Defense attorney William J. O'Kane Jr. would not allow the Taffets to comment. But in pleadings he argued that Rocky is now 8. "This is the equivalent of prosecuting a 40-year-old man for fights occurring when he was in grade school and high school."

The Taffets' lawyer said he intended to appeal, which leaves the dog free to roam his yard for the moment. And that outrages Susanne LaFrankie Principato.

"Here I sit a year later and nothing's been done. The community is not safe and my kids are not safe. What do I do in the meantime?"

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