On March 16, the Kurtin’s lost a member of their family when Reeses had to be put down due to extensive injuries that she suffered after being attacked by another dog.
After a 160-pound American Mastiff got loose from its home — where construction was taking place — the dog bolted free, ran across the street and mauled 11-pound Reeses, who sustained spinal cord damage, broken and fractured ribs. Blood was found in her lungs after the incident.
“In a split second I looked, and when I went to get my dog, the other dog was on her,” Kurtin said.
“The vet said it look like she had been hit by a car due to the blunt force trauma of the dog actually slamming her to the ground and going on her.”
According to Kurtin, the construction workers, who were leaving the home around 4 p.m. when the Mastiff got out, came rushing across the street to help.
“I couldn’t put my hand in there because I would have been bitten,” she said, “but I did get a puncture on my wrist in the interim. I don’t even know who did that. Next thing I knew the men with work boots were around me and trying to pull the dog off of my dog.”
Kurtin added that the altercation lasted about 30-40 seconds before the workers were able to pull the American Mastiff away.
Once the dogs were separated, the workers ran inside the house they were working in to retrieve a towel to stop Reeses from bleeding. One of the workers then drove Kurtin and Reeses to the East Rockaway Veterinary Hospital.
According to Kurtin, the vet then tried to get Reeses to stand up, but she was unable to and spinal cord damage was quickly noticed. Kurtin then took Reeses to the Long Island Veterinary Specialist in Plainview where Reeses sustained a seizure upon arrival. The next morning, Kurtin received a call from the vet who said that Reeses had not made any improvements, and due to the extent of her injuries, she was suffering terribly. The decision was then made to put Reeses down.
“It has been a nightmare that I want to wake up from,” Kurtin said. “If I could have changed the course of that day and taken her on another route that day I would have. I’m in a state of shock. I’m just reliving it every day. It’s just a terrible thing — a tragedy I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Kurtin said that her family is taking the news hard, including her 18-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter.
“It’s been a terrible misfortune that we were in the line of fire of,” Kurtin said, “but it could have been a small child walking with a grandmother or a teenager walking a dog. Unfortunately it was at the expense of my little girl.”
Kurtin is a nursery school teacher and works at Temple Am Echad in Lynbrook. She said she used to pick her kids up from school with Reeses. Kurtin’s students, neighbors and friends have all been helpful and generous since Reeses’ passing, sending cards and plants to console the grieving family.
According to a police report, the owner of the American Mastiff told police the dog was unlicensed.
(LI Herald - April 4, 2012)
