Barry Coulter
Another attack on a small dog by a bigger dog running loose in recent days has left the small dog's owner shaken and upset and the neighbours angry.
On Sunday, Mavis Kennedy's small dog was attacked by a pitbull on Little Van Horne Street and badly hurt. The Sunday previously, Armin Remy's terrier was attacked and injured at nearby Elizabeth Lake.
Mavis Kennedy, 81, was walking her dog Sam — a Pomeranian Cross — on Sunday, August 21.
"I was just on my usual walk with him ... I was just about back home, when I looked up and saw that dog come out of a truck across the street."
"I think it darted after a cat, but I don't know for sure. I think the cat got under a vehicle, but then the dog just turned, and he ran towards me so fast I had no time to pick up Sam. I had turned around and had started back up the street to get out of the way, but he came bounding up and just nailed Sam's back.
"He started shaking him just like a rag doll. There was nothing I could do.
"Another shake or two he would have killed Sam."
People in the vicinity came running to help. Kennedy said one neigbour ran over, jumped on the pitbull and started prying his jaws open."He had an awful job getting the dog's jaws open. Another woman came along, and together they got the little dog loose. She gave me a towel to wrap the dog in, and took us out to a veterinarian clinic."
That woman told the Townsman that when she came running up to help there were two men pinning the pitbull down on the ground. The dog was still struggling to get at Sam. "It took everything they had [to hold the pitbull down]," she said.
Kennedy was shaken and upset by the incident.
"When I finally went to bed, I was shaking so bad — I thought I was going to freeze. I never want to see that again, or hear about it."
Kennedy said the woman in charge of the dog came over the next morning, very upset and apologetic, and told Kennedy she had just been dog-sitting the pitbull. "She said she went to go in the door," Kennedy said, "and she had thought the dog was following her, but he didn't — then he saw my dog. She was hollering at it, and hollering, but it didn't pay any attention."
As for the dog Sam, he had to have some x-rays and bloodwork done, but the wounds have become infected. Kennedy said the vet bill is over $400, and if an operation is required it will cost a further $1,500.
Another of Kennedy's neighbours, Karen Kormilo, is arranging some public support — fundraising for Kennedy to help with the vet bills.
"It could have been anyone, walking their dog in that situation," Kormilo said. "It could have been a child."
Kormilo said anyone who wants to help Kennedy out can make a donation under Mavis Kennedy's name at Steeples Veterinarian Clinic. "Any help would be appreciated."
She added that dogs running loose is an issue in her neighbourhood, and in Cranbrook. "It's got to stop," she said. "People have got to keep their dogs on leashes.
"It could be any breed running loose, and any breed or any size dog that causes trouble."
According to Cranbrook's Animal Control Bylaw, dog owners must have a leash on their person to control their dog, even in off-leash areas. Anyone guilty of an offence under the bylaw is liable for fines of up to $10,000 if found guilty of an offence, compensation for damage or loss sustained by the city or victim.
The previous Sunday, August 14, Armin Remy, visiting from Germany, was walking out on the trails at Elizabeth Lake when his Jack Russell was rushed and attacked by two large dogs, including a pitbull. Remy's dog suffered injuries to the neck and required numerous stitches from the veterinarian.
Remy was especially upset that the owner did not identify himself following the incident.
He reported the incident to the local RCMP, and also contacted with Cranbrook bylaw services.