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The saga of two Hollister dogs ordered to be euthanized was extended as Judge Page Galloway continued a July 17 hearing until August.
The court was set to consider the Hollister Police Department’s motion to strike the notice of appeal filed by owner Timothy Pierson, but the judge demurred.
The new hearing was set for Aug. 27 at 1:30 p.m. in San Benito County Superior Court.
Galloway said she could not make a decision on the police’s motion because she was the judge that upheld the police’s original decision to euthanize “Bubba” and “Stewie” following hearings on Feb. 18 and 19.
She said the August hearing would be presided over by either San Benito County Superior Court Judge Omar Rodriguez or a visiting judge.
At the hearing, attorney Quentin Cedar, representing the city of Hollister and the police department, confirmed that Bubba, a five-year-old terrier mix, and Stewie, a one-year-old German shorthaired pointer, had been surrendered to animal services on June 16, more than a month after the court’s original deadline.
After the dogs were initially not surrendered, a hearing was held on June 5, at which point the court set June 8 as the final deadline.
Galloway said she was concerned over the delay but that she preferred to focus on Pierson doing the right thing rather than doing it “perfectly.” She told Pierson and his attorney Gary Thelander that the court expects its orders to be followed.
Galloway also extended the parties’ deadline to file a briefing ahead of the next hearing.
In her decision on March 9, based on a hearing on Feb. 18 and 19, Galloway ordered the two dogs to be surrendered to the Hollister Police Department and eventually euthanized, following two separate deadly attacks by the dogs on cats on Oct. 29, 2025.
Hollister Police Animal Care and Services designated the dogs “dangerous” and issued an order on Nov. 20 to “humanely destroy Stewie and Bubba as allowed by code and law.”
Pierson has been fighting the decision, arguing that police have misrepresented aspects of the case and that euthanization is too harsh of a punishment.
After the dogs were confiscated by animal services and held for observation, Bubba and Stewie were returned to Pierson on Dec. 11. The dogs were required to be confined in a cage in the back yard and registered as “dangerous animals,” but according to animal services, they were let inside the house on Dec. 26.
Pierson’s former attorney Gregory LaForge said the Piersons brought the dogs inside because a recent storm had scattered debris throughout the yard.
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