Welcome to HickoryRecord.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

HickoryRecord.com - Hickory Daily Record

HomeNewsEntertainmentSportsLifestylesOpinionCommunityWeather Online Tools Jobs | Real Estate | Shopping | Classified

TV judge sides with freak show owner over five-legged dog

By Ely Portillo

McClatchy Tribune Wire Service

Published: August 13, 2009

A TV judge awarded a Coney Island freak show owner $4,000 in damages Wednesday stemming from the aborted sale of Lilly, a Charlotte dog born with five legs.

Judge Jeanine Pirro, whose TV show runs daily across the country, heard the case of John Strong (freak show owner) vs. Calvin Owensby (Lilly's original owner) in an episode taped in Chicago.

The show won't air until Sept. 8 on The CW network, but a spokeswoman confirmed that Strong won the case.

Lilly, a Chihuahua-terrier mix, was born about two months ago to Owensby's dog, Diamond. Owensby, a laid-off electrician from Gastonia, agreed to sell the puppy to Strong for $3,000. Strong planned a starring role for Lilly in his exhibit of unusual animals, and paid Owensby a $1,000 deposit.

But when the story got out, animal lovers sprang into action. Allyson Siegel, 45, of Charlotte matched the sale price of $3,000 and also paid Owensby $1,000 to refund the deposit.

Strong threatened to sue for custody of the dog, and the story took off nationally on news outlets and Internet sites. The clamor prompted Siegel to speed up plans to have Lilly's extra leg removed so the dog would no longer be a "freak" and could live a normal life.

Last week, Strong -- who says he's seen a 60 percent bump in attendance at his sideshow -- kept the controversy alive when he filed a real lawsuit against Owensby for breach of contract.

The suit was filed in Gaston County, but both parties agreed instead to fight it out on Judge Jeanine's TV show -- and live with her decision.

"I'm thrilled," Strong said Wednesday, after the judge ruled in his favor.

But he hinted the dispute may not end just yet. He still plans to seek custody of Lilly, he says, even though she now has only four legs.

"I didn't fall in love with it just because it had five legs," Strong told the Observer. "It was a very cute dog."

As for Owensby, he lost in court but had no trouble seeing a silver lining: He and his girlfriend got a free trip to Chicago and $250. To top it off, he won't have to pay Strong anything. The TV show agreed to pay his judgment, Owensby said.

Owensby had never flown before. He liked the takeoff, but "it scared me when we were landing," he said by telephone Wednesday, as he prepared to board a plane home.

Of Chicago, he said: "They got more cabs than people."

Its prices surprised him, too: "Got a hamburger and fries, and it cost us $35. I'm going home to North Carolina, where everything is cheap. Cigarettes here are $9 a pack!"

Back in Charlotte, Allyson Siegel sat out the courtroom drama. She declined the show's request to appear as a witness, and just hopes the attention will go away.

"I hope that he feels as if he's been vindicated," she said of Strong, "and is willing to call this off."

Siegel had planned to give Lilly to her twin sister once the pup had recovered from surgery. But after all they've been through together, Siegel says she can't bear to part with the dog. She has decided to keep Lilly alongside her six cats.

Siegel's sister, Mimi Watts, also of Charlotte, sympathizes: "After all the fighting, you start getting pretty protective."