Opinion ID: 2032369
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: who is a keeper of a dog?

Text: Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 174.001(5) an [o]wner includes any person who owns, harbors or keeps a dog. Although the issues before us today are ones of first impression, this court and the Wisconsin court of appeals have had previous occasion to address the definition of who ... keeps a dog as that phrase is used in the statute. We note that, since their inception, Wisconsin laws governing liability for damage caused by dogs have defined owners as including those who keep dogs. § 2, ch. 383, Laws of 1852. In Hagenau v. Millard, 182 Wis. 544, 195 N.W. 718 (1924), this court held as a matter of law that the defendant, who owned a building in which he operated a hotel and restaurant, was not a keeper of the dogs owned by his sister-in-law who lived on the premises and worked in the restaurant. We held that a keeper is one who harbors and protects a dog, who treats it as living at his or her house and undertakes to control the animal. Hagenau, 182 Wis. at 547. The casual presence of dogs will not suffice to transform a person into a keeper; there must be evidence that the person has furnished them with shelter, protection, or food, or that they exercised control over the dogs. Id., at 547-48. This court addressed not only the definition of keeper in Janssen v. Voss, 189 Wis. 222, 207 N.W. 279 (1926), but also the relationship of keepers and legal owners. The issue in Janssen was whether the mother of the fourteen year-old dog owner was a keeper of the dog at the time of the injury. Janssen, 189 Wis. at 223. The circumstances surrounding the injury were that the mother had to leave town to attend a funeral and arranged for the dog to be placed at a dog hospital during her absence. Despite explicit instructions from his mother to leave the dog at the hospital, her son took the dog from the hospital and tied it in the yard of the family's home where he was staying. Id. at 224. We concluded that when the owner-son took physical custody and possession of the dog, he became the legal keeper of the dog, thereby relieving his mother of any responsibility for the dog's conduct under the strict liability statute. Id. at 225. We stated that, A keeper is defined as one who keeps, one who watches, guards, etc.; one having custody. It is apparent that the keeper of a dog may or may not be the owner of the dog. Where the keeper is not the owner, it may be assumed, as a general proposition, that the dominion or authority of the keeper over the dog is a limited one, subject to be terminated at any time by the owner.... The moment [the owner removes the dog from the custody of the keeper], the dual authority theretofore exercised over the dog by the owner and the keeper is merged in the owner, and at that very moment the keeper's rights and responsibilities concerning the dog are at an end. Id. at 224 (citations omitted, emphasis added). We held, in Koetting v. Conroy, 223 Wis. 550, 270 N.W. 625 (1936), that, although not the legal owner of the animal, a person who allows a dog to be kept at his dwelling and even feeds it from his table is a keeper and thereby subject to liability for the dog's conduct under Wis. Stat. § 174.02. Koetting, 223 Wis. at 552. Further, this court noted that, [o]ne purpose of the statute is to protect domestic animals [and persons] from injury by dogs by whomsoever the dogs are kept or harbored, and to make a person who keeps or harbors a dog responsible for all injuries inflicted by it.... Id. at 555 (emphasis added). The court of appeals addressed the issue of who is a keeper in Pattermann v. Pattermann, 173 Wis. 2d 143, 496 N.W.2d 613 (Ct. App. 1992). There, the court held that a mother who merely allowed her adult son to bring his dog into her home for one half-hour while packing for a family trip was not a keeper or harborer of the dog. Pattermann, 173 Wis. 2d at 150-51. The transient invasion by the dog was insufficient to bring the mother within the confines of Wis. Stat. § 174.001(5), according to the court, because there was no evidence that the dog lived on the premises, or was fed or in any way cared for by Mrs. Pattermann. Id. [2, 3] Upon review of these cases we conclude that several factors are critical in determining who is a keeper and therefore an owner within the confines of chapter 174; the person in question must exercise some measure of custody, care or control over the dog. See Hagenau, 182 Wis. at 547-48 (exercise control over, or furnish with shelter, protection or food); Janssen, 189 Wis. at 224 (has custody, dominance or authority over); Koetting, 223 Wis. at 552 (keep at dwelling and feed); and Pattermann, 173 Wis. 2d at 150 (feed, care for, give shelter). Further, it is clear that a person's status as keeper can change over time, with the focal point being the time of the injury. The Macks affirmatively relinquished physical custody and entrusted their dog to the employees at Thistlerose for the purpose of providing her with care. Armstrong was employed to perform certain duties which included letting the dog out to exercise, cleaning its pen, and supplying it with water. [7] She was in the process of caring for and (at least attempting to) exercise control over Mandy at the time she was bitten. We conclude that Armstrong was a keeper, and thus by statute an owner, of the Macks' dog.