Woman pleads to lesser charge

SANDPOINT — Animal cruelty charges have been dropped against a Sandpoint woman accused of hitting her dog.

Instead, Lilly Anne Brunner voluntarily pled guilty to a charge of disturbing the peace and surrendered the Belgian Malinois.

Brunner was ordered to pay a $300 fine and $157.50 in court costs. She was placed on unsupervised probation and granted a withheld judgment in the disturbing the peace charge. Under a withheld judgment, a conviction can be dismissed upon completion of court-ordered obligations.

Under the terms, Brunner agreed to give up ownership of the Belgian Malinois at the center of the initial animal cruelty charge.

Up until she agreed to plead to the disturbing the peace charge, Brunner said she'd been exploring professional training facilities where handlers were familiar with the breed and its characteristics.  However, she said that would have meant more time at the animal alliance in conditions not conducive to a dog that needs to run and be active.

Brunner was cited on a charge of animal cruelty in September 2023 after Sandpoint Police were sent a video of her allegedly yelling at the dog and hitting the animal. 

The video allegedly shows the woman going offscreen while yelling the dog’s name, then multiple loud thumps can be heard. The woman — later identified as Brunner — leads the dog onscreen before beginning to hit the dog with an object that was later discovered to be a garden spade. Officers said in a probable cause affidavit that they counted Brunner hitting the dog 17 times in a row on camera.

When officers spoke with Brunner, she allegedly denied ever holding the dog down with her knee and claimed she was yelling at the dog because it got into the poop she was trying to clean up. She allegedly told officers she only spanked the dog three times with the spade as a punishment for pooping.

Brunner said that during mediation, it was determined the animal cruelty charge was not applicable because she attempted to correct the dog after it bit her in the hand while she was bathing it, before clamping down and causing a deep puncture wound.

"I disciplined her and was doing what I thought best and was researching ways to help her," Bunner said, adding she loved the dog too much to take more extreme measures in response to the bite.

Brunner agreed to surrender the dog after learning it had bonded with a worker at Better Together Animal Alliance where it has been since it was removed from the home.

While she had researched professional training options, Brunner said she supported the rehoming and felt it was in her former pet's best interests.

"[Neither side] felt it was best because she had bonded with somebody else during that time," Brunner said. "And it would just be more traumatic for her, more moving, more time in prison with more strange people … I just wanted the best for her."