It was love at first site when Adam Rosenberg went to pick up his puppy at the Dewitt Animal Hospital.

“The dog pissed all over me,” Rosenberg said, “so I knew I had to keep him.”

Rosenberg, a senior political science and environmental policy studies major, has raised Mookie, his pit bull/Labrador retriever puppy, in the Alpha Epsilon Pi house this year.

He admits he has a tough time taking care of the pet, even while taking just 13 credits.

“It’s like having a kid,” Rosenberg said, “except it has a tail and ears and shits on the floor.”

“It’s really difficult for me to handle it. I don’t know how someone who’s working full-time on their major could handle it. It’s not for everyone.”

Indeed, two animal abuse experts agree that most college students aren’t equipped to own pets. Several landlords in the Syracuse University area also have policies banning pets, and the university has long banned animals in residence halls and South Campus.

“Early adulthood is a time when people are trying out roles as adults,” said Dr. Barbara Wood, a professor of social work at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, who is researching pet abuse cases. “This is probably the least likely time where good bonding can take place. Bonding with an animal has a better chance of happening in earlier and later stages (of life).”

The issue of pet abuse has become prominent at Syracuse University since Oct. 28, when 20 year-old David S. Allen, a sophomore in The College of Arts and Sciences, was charged with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to an animal and a misdemeanor charge of torturing or injuring an animal.

Allen’s arrest stemmed from an incident with his 8 week-old beagle/Labrador retriever mix puppy, Piper.

Allen allegedly “pulled the dog by a leash which was connected to the dog’s neck with a collar, then swung the dog in a yo-yo fashion,” according to a Syracuse Police Department report. He was reportedly angry that the puppy had defecated inside his apartment.

Joanne Lenweaver, director of public education for the Central New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said college students aren’t especially likely to abuse animals — neglect is more of a possibility.

“When you don’t see an animal for a month, who’s supposed to put the dog through training?” Lenweaver said. “I think this gentleman, if he didn’t have the time, should’ve given it up. Don’t put the animal in that situation.”

According to a 1997 study that surveyed 308 college students, one in five students reported committing one or more acts of animal abuse, and one in seven reported killing stray animals.

In July 1997, four Indiana University students enticed a cat into their yard, doused the animal with hair spray and lit it on fire.

The main perpetrators, Errett Rouch and Blake Case, both 19 year-old freshmen at the time, were sentenced to at least a year in jail.

As a result of the incident, the Indiana legislature passed a bill that punishes animal abusers more strictly.

Dave Kohr, SU’s director of housing, meal plan and ID card services, said the university’s pet policy will not change from its current status because of Allen’s alleged abuse.

The regulation in the SU student handbook reads, “No pets or animals of any kind are permitted in any student housing unit or surrounding university property.”

Kohr, who has worked at SU for 32 years, said the rule has been on the books for 50 or 60 years but wasn’t strictly enforced until the 1970s.

“We’d find some abandoned animals when we’d go through the residence halls before break or at the end of the year,” Kohr said. “Once, we found a rooster. But that was a different kind of time.”

Kohr said the number of students with pets has remained constant over the last five to eight years, adding that students still have pets on South Campus, despite rules banning animals.

“A cat can live out there and not be noticed at all,” he said.

Off-campus housing is not as restrictive with its pet policy. Though University Area Apartments and private landlords John O. Williams and Peter Williams don’t allow pets in their houses, landlord Norm Traino has a flexible pet policy.

Williams said he once allowed a tenant to have a cat, but the animal ripped up the carpets and furniture.

“And cat urine,” Williams said, “that’s a tough smell to get out.”

Traino said his policy depends on the tenant.

“We just want to make sure the tenant is going to be responsible,” said Traino, who added that he doesn’t charge an extra security deposit to students with pets.

As for Rosenberg, he paid a $200, non-refundable pet fee. Caring for Mookie, Rosenberg’s puppy, is a group effort, he said.

“Ultimately, it’s my responsibility,” he said.

Rosenberg said he sometimes has to skip class and stay in on weekends to care for the dog.

“When we have parties, we have to put him in a cage in the neighbor’s house,” he said. “But other than that, it’s pretty good.”

Published on November 17, 2002 at 12:00 pm