By Julia Shipley
This past Sunday, on the anniversary of a violent dog-on-dog attack that went viral on social media, Upper West Side City Councilmember Gale Brewer stood on the corner of Columbus Avenue and West 85th Street – where Penny the chihuahua nearly died – and told a crowd of concerned pet lovers about her new legislative package.
There have been at least seven documented dog attacks on the Upper West Side over the past sixteen months, where one dog (or in some instances a pair of dogs), without provocation, violently attacked another, often resulting in severe injuries, five-figure vet bills, and — in some cases — death, according to dangerous animal reports collected by the NYPD 24th Precinct’s Crime Prevention Officer Sarah Frankel.
According to Frankel, in six of the seven UWS instances, the aggressor dogs are still at large. Frankel says that is due to the current unenforced dog laws in the state, a dearth of police officers trained in filing dangerous animal reports, and the lack of punitive means to hold the owners of aggressive dogs accountable for the injuries and fatalities their canines inflict.
None of the injured parties received financial compensation from the aggressor’s owners for their pet’s medical bills, according to the victims.
Brewer’s new legislative package, which was formally introduced at a city council meeting on March 26th, includes four bills tackling dangerous dog issues and “responsible pet ownership.”
The first bill, which Brewer’s team refers to as “the Sarah Frankel Bill,” will require the New York Police Department to designate an animal cruelty liaison officer in every precinct. Currently, the Upper West Side is home to the only active NYPD officer formally trained in filling out dangerous dog reports — the 24th precinct’s Sarah Frankel.
During the past 16 months, Frankel has filed 60 dangerous dog reports for residents in every borough except Staten Island. But she is scheduled to retire at the end of May.
The second bill would create a digital “centralized dog bite reporting system – for reporting dangerous animal incidents. “We need to clarify dog bite incidents on the local level,” Brewer told the Sunday crowd, “so [this bill mandates] an online reporting mechanism.”
Brewer’s third initiative is to establish a city-wide outreach campaign to increase pet licensing, which is mandatory for NYC dog owners. When owners apply for licenses, they receive a numbered metal ID tag to affix to the dog’s collar. Increased licensing could help expedite dog identification issues in emergencies related to dog bite incidents, according to Brewer.
So far, the city council legislation has garnered between five and nine co-sponsors per bill; Brewer expects more will join in the near future. Brewer’s top priority, according to her chief of staff, Shulamit Puder, is “working with members of [the newly formed] animal welfare caucus. Meanwhile, the [City Council’s health and public safety] committees have prioritized the legislation for a hearing, which is expected this summer.”
Brewer’s fourth and fifth initiatives include formal endorsements of proposed state legislation. In March, Brewer introduced a resolution in support of Upper West Side Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal’s state bill, which would recognize animals as sentient beings and not “property.” Passing this law could shift the issue of chronic, unprovoked dog-on-dog attacks from a civil matter to a criminal matter.
Brewer’s resolution in support of Penny’s Law was introduced on January 29th, 2026. In response to the Upper West Side attack on the chihuahua last May, State Representative Jenifer Rajkumar also drafted a statewide version of Penny’s Law, which seeks to hold aggressive dog owners accountable.
The legislative activity was sparked by an incident in the early evening of May 3, 2025, when Devon Allen walked Penny, a chihuahua he co-owns with his ex-girlfriend, Lauren Claus. Allen paused at the curb of Columbus Avenue and West 85th Street to wait for traffic to pass. “It happened so fast,” he told the WSR of the two large dogs who came alongside and bit down on Penny’s flank, refusing to let her go. “It makes you appreciate every breath she takes,” he said a year later, as he cradled her in his arms, and showed a reporter where the fur was growing over the scars.
In late May of 2025, Claus and Allen (along with Lauren Block, whose two dogs were also injured, one fatally) initiated one of the first civil dog-on-dog lawsuits to go before a city judge. It resulted in a ruling to have the aggressor dogs seized and evaluated.
Joseph Columbus, the accused owner of two pit bulls that attacked multiple dogs on the Upper West Side over the past year, including Penny the chihuahua, was arrested in a New York County courtroom in December of 2025 for civil contempt due to his failure to surrender the animals after a court order to do so. After a week of imprisonment, he was released.
As of this writing, the dogs are still not in custody.
Read More:
- Owner of Pit Bulls that Attacked Penny the Chihuahua on UWS in May is Arrested in NY Courtroom
- Judge Rules in Favor of Owners of Attacked UWS Dog in Joe Columbus Case
- Warrant Issued for the Arrest of UWS Pit Bulls Owner; Dogs Still Not Turned In
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