CANADA -- A woman described to a North Vancouvre court on Friday the horror of watching her five-year-old shih tzu be attacked in her front yard by a much larger dog and then get carried off in its mouth.
Shamim Shirkhodaei, who lives on Chelsea Court in the British Properties, told Judge William Rodgers her neighbour's akita Max attacked her dog Sasha, then ran off with the small dog in his mouth.
"I was running and following him and screaming for help," she said.
"I was seeing my dog being killed by another dog"
Shirkhodaei said once the larger dog neared its own property, the dog's owner ran over and pried its jaws open, allowing Sasha to be freed.
"I ran toward Sasha and held him in my arms," said Shirkhodaei.
It wasn't until she got home and prepared to take Sasha to the vet that she saw how badly her dog had been injured.
"I saw blood all over my jacket," she said. "I started screaming and crying."
Sasha later died of the injuries, despite a vet's efforts to save the pet.
The court hearing is being held to determine the fate of the akita Max, who had been in the custody of the SPCA on doggie death row since West Vancouver animal control officers seized it several days after the incident on Dec. 26 last year.
The municipality has asked the judge for an order to have the dog destroyed. Prosecutor Don Howieson said it's an issue of public safety.
But Max's owner, Shelly Alvarado, is asking the judge to spare her dog, saying it is not a threat to people and can be controlled.
Shirkhodaei tearfully told the judge she had never had a problem with Sasha before around other dogs.
"He was really friendly," she said.
In contrast, she said, she frequently saw Max roaming the neighbourhood unsupervised, defecating in other people's yards. Shirkhodaei said seeing Max on the loose made her apprehensive.
Another neighbour, Erdmute Schendel, also described how she heard a "horrible shriek, a sound of terror" on the day Sasha was attacked, and saw Max run from the direction of the Shirkhodaeis' driveway with a small dog in its mouth.
Schendel said she often saw Max running around the neighbourhood and through other people's yards without supervision. Schendel said she had a conversation with Alvarado shortly after the family got
Max.
"'You realize they are hunting dogs,'" she recalled telling Alvarado. "'You have to really make sure this dog gets trained properly because they can be dangerous.'"
Schendel also recalled talking to Alvarado about allowing Max to roam the neighbourhood. "I did tell her that if he was allowed to run around like that, there could be an accident one day," she said.
But another former neighbour, Nicola Harte, described Max as a "playful" dog, who wasn't aggressive.
"Nobody was afraid of the dog," she said.
Defence lawyer Emmet Duncan said he will call Alvarado and dog behavioural expert Gary Gibson to testify when the case resumes.
In the interim, Max has been sprung from the pound on $2,500 bail, with conditions that the dog must be kept on its own property in a securely gated and locked enclosure.
Shirkhodaei is also suing Alvarado in small claims court for Sasha's veterinary bills.
(North Shore News - August 10, 2011)
