Woman charged with animal cruelty

COEUR d’ALENE — A woman who allegedly abandoned two dogs inside her home without food or water for a month is facing criminal charges.

Dominique A. Lewis, 30, is charged with two counts of cruelty to animals and two counts of failing to properly care for animals, all misdemeanors. 

The charges stem from late August, when an anonymous caller contacted police to report dogs barking and howling continuously at a Coeur d’Alene home. The caller believed no one had been in the home for about a month. 

When animal control officers responded to the home, they found a package on the porch that was delivered in mid July, according to court records. While officers knocked on the door, two dogs peered down at them from a second-floor window, one barking and the other silently leaning her head on the sill. Phone calls to Lewis and a relative went unanswered, officers said.

Thinking that the homeowner may have died inside the residence, police entered the home and found the interior “completely cluttered with feces, trash and insulation,” according to court records. 

The dogs, a young Great Dane/boxer mix and a 10-year-old pit bull mix, were “extremely emaciated” and dehydrated, police said. One officer observed that the larger dog appeared to be sick, while another described her in a report as “emaciated to a point which I had not seen before.” 

Empty dog food bags were found in the house, police said, as if “the food was thrown to the ground for the dogs to feed themselves.” Staff at Companions Animal Center later said the only source of water in the home was a leaking toilet. 

“The dogs were living in their own feces and urine,” a police report said. “The visible conditions of the dogs were so severe that they were in immediate need of medical attention or otherwise would have died due to the emaciation, dehydration and Dog A experiencing labored breathing from an apparent upper respiratory infection.” 

Companions Animal Center confirmed that the larger dog, Bessie, weighed about 50 pounds but should have weighed about 80 pounds. The smaller dog, Addy, should’ve weighed about 50 pounds but instead weighed about 35 pounds. 

When interviewed by police, Lewis allegedly said she “frequently checked on the dogs” and the conditions of the home were due to personal problems. 

After their rescue, the dogs were wary but still open to human contact. 

“That's the kicker of it all,” Kristina Jensen, dog technician at Companions Animal Center, told The Press in August. “They’re so sweet and they still have so much trust for us even after all they went through.” 

In October, a summons was issued to Lewis, ordering her to appear in court. She failed to appear for a Monday hearing, according to court records, and a judge issued a warrant for her arrest. 

Lewis was arrested Wednesday and posted $500 bail. She is expected to appear in court again later this month.