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HALIFAX, N.S. —

Nick Richards says his family is concerned for his brother Cyril's mental well-being after the navy veteran lost his dog Gus in an attack by a neighbour's dog.

Cyril suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder related to his military service as a submariner and now he's lost his best friend.

His brother is too distraught to talk about the dog's death, so Nick took it upon himself.

"He's in a pretty bad mental spot right now as far as going back to his house and seeing the other dogs still there, and kind of re-living the event, kind of thing, which feeds into what PTSD is," Nick Richards said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

He said his brother got Gus, a young English bulldog, about a year or so ago. Around the same time the neighbours on Cow Bay Road in Eastern Passage got two dogs that he described as a "pitbull-type breed."

"And right away they were exhibiting kind of aggressive behaviour — very vocal barking at the fence and Rocko, the male of the group, he actually grabbed Gus's jowls through the fence and wouldn't let go," Nick Richards said.

Cyril Richards had three dogs, two older ones and Gus, and he wouldn't let them out if the neighbours' dogs were out. It seemed the neighbours did the same, as Nick Richards said his brother thought there was "an unspoken agreement" that they wouldn't be let out at the same time.

"It was fine for about a year," Nick Richards said. "They would let them out by themselves, he would actually go out and check to see whether or not they were outside before he would let his dogs out and do their thing."

But on Oct. 11, the neighbours let their dogs out at the same time that Cyril Richards's dogs were in his yard and they somehow got through the fence.

"Poor old Gus," Nick Richards said. "He's a short, stout little English bulldog-type thing. I mean, he's kind of roly-poly as it was, so the neighbour's dog just got ahold of him and pinned him to the ground around his neck. My brother heard the commotion and went outside to try to help the poor little guy out, trying to dislodge to jaws of the dog. He didn't want to hurt anybody or anything, 'cause he's a real gentle type of person, very soft-spoken and very kind, extremely kind.

"He suffered multiple lacerations on his hands, just based off of the teeth of the other dog, trying to get him off of Gus's throat."

Cyril Richards' dog Gus was killed in an attack by a neighbour's dog. The young English bulldog died of shock and his wounds. Richards also was hurt, needing stitches to close injuries on his hands from when he tried to pry the attacking dog's jaws off Gus's throat. - Contributed

Nick is not sure how Cyril got the attacking dog off of Gus, but he managed it. While Cyril went to the ER to have his own wounds treated, their stepfather rushed Gus to the vet hospital but the little dog died of shock.

"(Cyril) is thankfully doing well physically, anyway, but mentally, he's pretty much a mess right now," Nick said.

"The worst thing is, though, that he registered him as an emotional support dog. He suffers from anxiety attacks as a result of the PTSD, and he said Gus was his best friend."

Nick said Cyril is just lost.

"I know that animal control and the police have not charged the neighbours or anything like that. And animal control returned the dogs on several conditions," Nick Richards said. "But they do have the dogs back now and my brother won't talk to them, no."

Halifax Regional Municipality handles animal control bylaw enforcement. City spokeswoman Erin DiCarlo said the incident is still under investigation and could offer no further comment.

Nick is appealing to people to write condolences for his brother on a Facebook page In Loving Memory of Gus to show him people care.

"Gus would help him through his worst times, and now ... I don't know. I'm very concerned about him and I just want to kind of get his story out there so he knows people kind of care, because he kind of feels like the world's against him."

He was not sure of the neighbour's names. The details are available in a search of online property records, however, The Chronicle Herald was unable to contact the owners.

