Family Upset After Dog Attacks Pet Miniature Horse

OHIO -- A Preble County family is upset after they said their pet miniature horse was brutally attacked by their neighbor's dog.

Authorities said they are now investigating how the dogs got loose after the attack Tuesday in the 6400 block of Crawfordsville-Campbellstown Road.

The horse's owners are upset with their neighbors because they said they always feared that something like this would happen. The backyard at the Kern house is usually Bullet's peaceful domain.

The Kerns said a boxer and a husky next door got loose from their chains and and the husky began attacking the miniature horse.

Bullet could not get free because he was tethered to a stake. Rick Kern's daughter bent an aluminum pole, trying to force the dogs back. However, Rick went to grab his gun.

"The lady next door told me to go ahead and shoot them, but I ran out of bullets, Kern said.

The Kerns finally managed to beat the dogs back, leaving an injured Bullet on the ground.

"I just couldn't believe it. I was really mad because I knew this could happen," Kern said.

Alex Daum said, "I can understand where they are coming from, but it was an accident. He's not a vicious dog."

Daum said he will pay for Bullet's injuries and help build a fence to keep his dog corralled, but he insists that the dogs are no danger to anyone.

"If he wanted to hurt that horse, he could have, but he didn't," Daum said.

Bullet suffered several puncture wounds to his rear legs. The Preble County Dog Warden is investigating.

(WHIO - April 13, 2011)