Another court delay for Whitehorse death-row dog

Trevor, the dog that was spared euthanization at the Whitehorse dog pound this summer, will have to wait at least another two weeks before the Yukon Supreme Court decides his fate.

A court hearing scheduled for Monday was adjourned until Oct. 20, at which time a B.C. animal specialist is expected to testify on Trevor's potential for rehabilitation.

The court delay extends a temporary stay of execution for Trevor, who was originally supposed to be put down at the Whitehorse city pound in late July.

City bylaw officers had deemed Trevor a dangerous dog after several people reported that he bit them.

The Humane Society Yukon then won a court injunction stopping the city from euthanizing the Rottweiler-shepherd cross, pending the results of an independent assessment.

That assessment, done by B.C. animal behaviour specialist Dr. Shelley Breadner, concluded that Trevor is a dangerous dog whose aggressive behaviour will likely remain for the rest of his life.

Breadner did not say in her assessment whether Trevor could be rehabilitated. The court is asking Breadner to testify specifically on the dog's rehabilitation potential.

Meanwhile, a Whitehorse dog trainer has been working with Trevor the past two months, in the hopes that he can be cleared for adoption to a Yukon home.

The animal was rescued from abuse and put in the shelter before he was adopted out. But the new owner brought Trevor back to the city pound after the biting incidents.