Owner of attacking dog says it was accidentally let out of the yard

THUNDER BAY — A city woman wants the Animal Services department to quarantine the dog that attacked and killed her 11-year-old pekingese/pomeranian.

The incident occurred Sunday in the Blucher Avenue area, where Pina Bober was taking Molly for her evening walk.

"I only got four doors down, and all of a sudden this dog just came barrelling for us...I tried to go on the ground so it would attack me instead, but it got Molly in its mouth and just kept on shaking her," Bober said.

She said the attacking dog, a pit bull type, wouldn't let go. The owner eventually showed up and also "had the hardest time trying to get her dog off Molly," she said.

According to Bober, by the time it released Molly, she had been fatally injured.

"She died within five minutes. She just took her last sigh and died."

In an interview Tuesday with Tbnewswatch, Bober said she hasn't slept since she lost her dog.

"I got her as a little puppy. She was the sweetest little dog you would ever want. She was very attached to me, and I was to her as well."

Despite her anguish, Bober doesn't feel the pit bull should be put down, but believes measures need to be taken to protect children and other dogs in the neighbourhood.

"Our whole family, we love dogs. I don't want it to be put down but if the dog is trained properly, it wouldn't do that."

She said she hasn't heard from the woman who owns the pit bull since the attack.

The owner, Anna Jacomb, said she "feels terrible" about what happened, and will consider having her pit bull/shar-pei euthanized when her husband returns home from his job out of town.

Jacomb said the attack happened after the three-year-old dog was inadvertently allowed to get out of the yard by one of her children who opened the gate.

"It was a horrible accident. I wish it was my dog instead of hers" that was attacked, she said. "If there was anything I could do to change this, I would."

According to Jacomb, the pit bull has never displayed this kind of aggression before.

She said she has offered, through Bober's friends, to pay for the cost of cremating Molly.

Jody Kondrat, Manager of Animal Services for the city, said the department is investigating, but "it's really preliminary" at this point.

She told Tbnewswatch she can't discuss details before the process is finished, but she did review how Animal Services conducts investigations into incidents of this kind.

"We look at whether there are any by-law violations, whether or not the dog was loose, if it was licensed, whether there was a history on the dog."

She added that "in a serious bite incident," the department would look at whether charges under the provincial Dog Owner's Liability Act were warranted.

Depending on the outcome, an owner could also be required to have a dog put down, or take steps to restrain it with a leash and muzzle.

"It would break my heart to see another animal die," Bober said, but she added that she wants Animal Services to lay charges.