Moses Lake man permitted fourth dog

MOSES LAKE - Martin Larioz received permission from the Moses Lake City Council to keep all four of his dogs Tuesday night.

Citizens are allowed a maximum of three dogs in Moses Lake unless certain criteria are met to allow a fourth, according to city code.

Council unanimously approved to create an ordinance allowing a fourth dog, also referred to as a comfort dog, during a Nov. 13 meeting.

According to the ordinance, the citizen must be legally blind or physically disabled to own a fourth comfort dog. A comfort dog is defined as an animal who provides significant comfort and companionship to the citizen making the request. Once a request is made, council considers how the person came into possession of the fourth animal and evaluates if the animals are maintained. The citizen making the request must be in compliance with all related nuisance ordinances and complaints about the additional dog are considered.

Once the fourth dog dies it can't be replaced with an additional dog if the additional dog causes the number of animals to exceed three, according to the ordinance.

Larioz made the request in September.

He sent a letter to council asking them to change the ordinance for people in his situation after he learned he was out of compliance with the code.

Larioz said he didn't want to give a dog away due to their medical situations and because they provide him with comfort during his bouts of depression.

Larioz is blind with numerous health issues due to surviving multiple war related events.

He survived after being frozen from the waist down while serving in Korea, he survived a firing squad and the Sunchon North Korea train tunnel massacre of 183 prisoners of war.

After all Larioz has experienced, he said his dogs provide him with a sense of salvation.

He was unable to attend the Tuesday night meeting because he was feeling ill.