STRATFORD, P.E.I. - A Stratford mother and daughter whose beloved pet dog had to be put down after being attacked by two other dogs are left shaken from the incident.
To make matters worse, the women still live next door in the same duplex as the dogs who turned their pet into “mincemeat”.
On Oct. 22, Sharon Clow let out her daughter Samantha’s 13-year-old lab-husky mix Louie, like she did most days. She tied the dog up outside her Reeves Estates duplex and left the doorway.
Then, she heard Louie yelp.
When she got back to the door, two pit bulls were attacking Louie.
There wasn’t much Sharon could do since she has limited mobility.
One black pit bull had Louie by the rear, and another grey pit bull was latched on to Louie’s head, Clow said.
“I tried to hit them with my cane, but they would not let go,” she said.
Louie suffered 11 puncture wounds to the head, his ear was torn and his lung was pierced.
“His rear-end was mincemeat,” she said.
He was euthanized later that day.
Louie was a gift to her daughter, to help her deal with ADHD.
“She would get all tensed up and forget things, but Louie, when I got him she was a changed person,” Sharon said.
Since the incident, Samantha, now 29, has developed a fear of dogs.
“I’ve been having severe anxiety and panic attacks when I hear them. I instantly start shaking,” she said.
There are still marks of Louie’s blood around the home left from the attack. Every time she looks at the smears, she remembers her dog and how he died.
This was not the first incident involving the dogs in the other half of the duplex.
Samantha Clow says she had made several previous calls to the P.E.I. Humane Society. But, every time shelter representatives came, there was no answer at her neighbour’s door.
“We called in the summertime about their living conditions,” she said. “(The dog owner) would go away for days at a time and just leave them there.”
She says it is that kind of pet owner, and not the breed, that is to blame for what happened to her pet.
“It’s not the (breed) pit bull. I know someone who has a pit bull and it’s nothing like those dogs. It is not the breed. It is 100 per cent the owner.”
But she didn’t realize the dogs posed a threat to Louie, who wasn’t a small dog. He was about 65 pounds and muscular. She says the whole attack lasted less than half an hour.
“The fact they did that much damage in 26 minutes is nuts.”
The police arrived after the attack and told the women the dogs would be taken from their owner.
“They said they were going to get a warrant to take the dogs,” said Samantha. “Suddenly, that evening they said the warrant was rejected or not processed and they would have to do it again.”
One week later the pit bulls are still her neighbours, leaving Samantha and her mother with few options for peace.
“We are thinking about moving,” she said.
