Online dog-breeding debate prompts exchange of lawsuits

CHESAPEAKE

Man's best friends don't necessarily make best friends of man.

Woofing back and forth on an online discussion group for a rare breed of dog - the coton de tulear - has resulted in close to a million dollars in lawsuits.

The suits show that a breeder and registry operator in New York state, Robert Jay Russell of the Coton de Tulear Club of America, first criticized the efforts of a competitor in Chesapeake, Mary K. "Kennette" Tabor and her business, Cottonkist Cotons.

Russell wrote on Yahoo Groups in November that Tabor lied about where her dogs came from and even what color they were, used "every unethical and even illegal" means to try to put him out of business, and deceptively changed the name of a dog.

"An unmitigated disaster for the breed," Russell called her.

Tabor responded three days later.

"You appear to be delusional," she began.

She called Russell a liar right back and accused him of libeling her. She disputed his accusations paragraph by paragraph. She accused him of publicly bad-mouthing another breeder after that client took his business elsewhere. She ridiculed his dog-show chops for never producing a champion.

Tabor went further. She sued Russell in April in Circuit Court for $200,000, saying he defamed her.

Russell went further still. He sued Tabor back this month for $750,000, saying she lied when she called him a liar.

Dog breeders can be "passionate," said Ruth Weidrick of Danville, Ky., vice president of another group, the United States of America Coton de Tulear Club.

"I just know that both of them - I guess a good word would be 'opinionated.' "

All this is over a cute ball of fluff no bigger than a good-sized handbag.

"Coton" is French for cotton, which suggests the coat, according to the online Dog Breed Info Center. The

bichon-type pooch is the official dog of Madagascar, has been reintroduced into Europe and North America in the past 20 years, and is known for its tendency to jump and walk on its hind legs.

The coton de tulear community is small, so its members know one another, at least by reputation. Tabor and Russell each claim that the other's posted comments hurt those reputations and their businesses.

Russell and his Norfolk lawyer didn't return phone calls this week seeking their comments.

Tabor's lawyer, Barry Dorans of Virginia Beach, acknowledged that online discussions can be "pretty free-wheeling," but said there's a limit. Tabor said in an interview that at some point "you draw a line in the sand, and you want to stop those persons saying those things about you."

There could be philosophical differences. Russell adamantly opposes the breed gaining American Kennel Club recognition. Weidrick said the fear is that the breed would become too popular and unhealthy overbreeding would follow.

Dorans said that with no central AKC registry there's no single standard - different registries vie - leaving open the question of which dogs are the real breed.

"Sometimes," Dorans said, "if you're outside the auspices of the AKC, it's the wild, wild West."

Weidrick agreed that breeding is "very competitive."

"I think that each club tries to outdo the other one," she said. "Everybody has their own beliefs about what's best for this. "

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-5221, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com

Message board exchanges

Russell lawsuit

Mary K. Tabor's lawsuit