Clark magazine, fall 2019<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHis firm, Boston Dog Lawyers, represents pets and pet owners in dog bite and nuisance cases, veterinary malpractice, and pet custody. He may be an animal’s last line of defense at dangerousness hearings, where a complaint against an aggressive dog could end in euthanasia.<\/p>\n
“Dog hearings are very emotional,” Cohen says. “The loudest voices in the room win. That’s how I got started. It was so politicized that I felt there had to be some parameters.”<\/p>\n
His first case, in 2008, involved a dog named Jesse, whose owner was the father of Cohen’s stepchildren. Jesse had bitten a woman who was walking her dog. Cohen saved Jesse from being put down.<\/p>\n
“I try to make sure the dog owner gets due process,” he explains. “At the end of the day, it could be that they do have a dangerous dog and there are no other options but to euthanize, but I want to see everybody get to that decision the right way.”<\/p>\n
In most dangerous-dog situations, he notes, the problem is owner error, or owner “casualness.” An owner might dismiss an animal control officer’s warnings about excessive barking or a dog who wanders off-leash. When something as serious as a bite occurs, those attempts to fix earlier issues are used as evidence against the dog.<\/p>\n
To date, Cohen has appeared on behalf of dog owners at around 110 hearings. He hasn’t won them all, but estimates only about five cases were lost unfairly. He acknowledges not all dogs can be saved. “Some dogs have run out of chances,” he says. “I just try to be reasonable about it.”<\/p>\n
![\"Jeremy](\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019-Jeremy-Cohen-032-2.jpg\")
Cohen works with dog trainers and behaviorists to educate the public and decision-makers, and examines the history of the dog and victim to determine what led to an attack. He recalls a case involving an 8-year-old boy who threw rocks at a dog daily, and when the boy encountered the dog on a walk with its owner, the animal lunged. Cohen argued the dog was simply reacting to a threat, and she was spared.<\/p>\n
“When I end up being the person in the room who knows the most about dog behavior, that’s not a good way for the town to make decisions,” he says. “But towns don’t have the resources to do a thorough investigation.”<\/p>\n
Aggressive-dog cases actually make up the smallest part of his practice. Pet custody cases comprise about half of his caseload, and those involve all kinds of pets: cats, dogs, and even horses.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t always involve divorces,” he explains. “It can be twenty- or thirty-somethings who decide to live together, get a pet, and split up. We try to negotiate, but if we can’t, we go to trial.”<\/p>\n
Cohen always tries to broker an agreement before a case reaches court.<\/p>\n
“Judges don’t appreciate these cases coming before them, so you have to show you’ve taken great steps to settle them,” he says. “Unfortunately, people can get angry, stubborn, and greedy.”<\/p>\n
Cohen, whose brother Adam graduated from Clark in 1988, owns a golden retriever named Maisey. His childhood dog, Poppy, had to be sent away for a circumstance he’s come to understand all too well. “She bit my brother.”<\/p>\n
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