COLUMBUS, MS -- "Came from their yard, over here to my mother's yard and attacked the dog. They were playing tug a war with the puppy."
Mary McDonald vividly recalls how her young dog was attacked Friday morning. She says the neighbor's two dogs, a Dachshund and a Dachshund-Pitbull mix, nearly killed the Maltese pup. McDonald had to use this rod to pull the dogs off her puppy. Animal control officers couldn't catch the dogs. That means everyone is waiting on the owner to corral the dogs.
In February the family had a similar tragic attack.
"My sister's neighbor, just five houses up the street, got three Pit bulls. My little girl was walking the Maltese on a leash, they ran outside and attacked they puppy and knocked her to the ground, and that puppy died," recalls McDonald.
She says the dogs that attacked her puppy can be seen roaming the streets all the time, and now she wants a change in city law.
Pit bulls have to be in a specific locked kennel, signs posted, and away from the owner's fence line.
However, there is only so much Columbus-Lowndes animal control officers can do without violating the law.
"Visually, if we see a dog from the front yard, a Pit bull chained up, or if we can see them in the back yard then we can stop check on how that dog is confined," explains animal control officer Robert Davis.
McDonald says she wants Pit bulls banned from the city limits, and the owners of the dogs to face stiffer penalties when an attack occurs.
"I can't get a pet because things like this happen. I'm all upset about my dog. I'm just not gonna get another pet."
Animal control officers say the owner of the two dachshund dogs could be written a citation for how the Pit bull mix is housed.
(WCBI - June 24, 2011)
