Madison Erhardt

A chihuahua had to be put down after a brutal attack from a pitbull-type dog at the Enterprise dog park in Kelowna.

Les Furgala and his wife were out walking their 10-year-old chihuahua Sunday afternoon when things took a turn for the worse.

"Some man walked in with a pitbull or pitbull-cross, and all of the sudden our little girl Alize started screaming and this dog just clamped on and started whipping her around like a rag doll," said Furgala. "The man had the dog on a leash (but) had no control.

"The guy was beating his dog with a ball-throw stick, and it finally released her," he added.

Furgala rushed Alize to Fairfield Animal Hospital moments after the attack.

"Her leg was just about severed. She had so much internal injuries. They sedated her for a while, and we decided to put her under. She was just the love of my life," he said, holding back tears.

Furgala is worried the dog could do even worse damage to a human next time.

"This guy has to be responsible. Someone has to know who he is. My wife describes him as about five-foot-eight, roughly 170 pounds, about 50 years old, with salt and pepper hair The pitbull was brown and not overly stocky," Furgala said.

Alize's ashes were delivered to the family this week.

"My wife isn't in good shape, and I'm not in good shape. It should't have happened. I miss her dearly," he said.

Kelowna RCMP are investigating the incident.