Rockland sheriff's canine mauls New City pup to death

A New City family is up in arms after their tiny cavapoo dog was mauled to death by a Rockland County Sheriff's Office canine on Tuesday.

Tom Fordet said his baby sitter was walking Ginger, his family's 1 1/2-year-old pooch, when the German shepherd lunged at them and attacked the smaller dog about 7:30 a.m. on Grand Street.

Making matters worse, Fordet said the shepherd's owner, Rockland Sheriff's Detective Dwayne Delfino, was still at the scene with the wounded puppy when he arrived there more than 30 minutes later.

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“I pulled up, I said, ‘I thought you were on your way to the vet?,'" Fordet said. "An attempt wasn’t even made, which is really what I’m upset about."

"If he immediately put the dog in his vehicle and they made a beeline for the animal hospital and the dog passed, you know what, you tried your best," he said. "You did what you can do. But the fact that there was no attempt at that I’m very upset with.”

Chief William Barbera, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said Delfino, who suffered bites to the face and hands, and Roscoe, the canine, were also injured. Both the detective and the dog were treated and released. Barbera called it "a horrific tragedy."

"It's heartbreaking for anyone to lose a pet like that," he said. "It's under investigation right now. We plan to speak to the family and find out everything that happened."

"I'm at a loss for words," Barbera said. "It's a horrible situation."

Roscoe, who is trained to sniff out accelerants in arson investigations, has been taken out of service and could be placed in a kennel pending the outcome of the investigation.

Fordet said the attack happened several blocks from his home, as the baby sitter walked Ginger — a cavapoo, a popular, small crossbreed between a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and a poodle.

“The sheriff’s dog started running after her, off leash," he said. "She heard the screams of somebody trying to stop it. As the dog got closer, she had a jacket on, she tried to cover up herself and cover up the dog."

"The shepherd then got under that and jumped up and grabbed the dog and mauled the dog to death right on the street," he said.

Fordet said the deputy did manage to pull the shepherd off Ginger, but only after both the dog and the deputy were injured.

"He literally had to pry this dog’s mouth open from my dog," Fordet said. "He was really cut up badly. He literally was wrestling with this dog."

Twitter: @jfitzgibbon