NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Lucinda Boutin has an electric dog fence around her property on Mammoth Road to keep her four dogs in the yard.
On Friday night, she was wishing it also kept other dogs out.
Boutin says one of her four dogs, a rat terrier named Sammy, was attacked by a pit bull as the dog and its owner walked past her house, causing a minor traffic tie-up as passing motorists left their vehicles to help her remove the pit bull's jaws from Sammy's neck.
“I was screaming at the top of my voice,” Boutin said Sunday night. “I'm a singer, and my voice is shot right now. There was blood everywhere.”
Boutin said the attack took place at about 6:45 p.m. Friday. She said a neighbor, Mark Laizure, told her that he saw Sammy in Boutin's yard, and a pit bull that was being walked by its owner passed by the Boutin home. She said Laizure told her he saw Sammy bark at the pit bull, which, according to Boutin, dragged the owner with it into the Boutin yard, clamping its jaws around the neck of the rat terrier.
“I ran out then and started screaming, trying to pull the dog off Sammy,” said Boutin. “I asked the woman walking him what to do to get him to release, and she said use a stick. So people who had gotten out of their cars were all around, looking for a stick. I went and got chair to hit him with.”
Boutin said she suffered two lacerations on her hands as a result of trying to pry the pit bull off. She received treatment for the cuts at The Elliot at River's Edge. Sammy was treated for injuries suffered during the attack at the Center for Advanced Veterinary Care in Manchester.
“Sammy's going to make it,” said Boutin. “He has a lot of stitches and lost blood, but they said he will be OK. They said his security fence collar probably saved his life, because it stopped the jaws from crushing his neck.”
Boutin said once the pit bull was removed from Sammy, it and its owner left the scene and entered a nearby home. Calls to a phone number associated with the address Sunday night were not answered.
Calls placed to neighbors on Mammoth Road to verify the details of the attack went unanswered or unreturned last night.
Boutin said that while the attack was taking place, she and drivers who stopped to help made multiple calls to Manchester police. No officer was dispatched to the scene Friday because the attack was dog on dog, which falls under the jurisdiction of Animal Control Officer Neal Vogler, whose shift had ended when the attack occurred. Boutin said an officer did visit the neighborhood on Saturday, but again said the incident will be handled by the ACO.
Boutin said this is not the first time this particular pit bull has attacked dogs along Mammoth Road. She said she believes four others have been hurt in recent months.
“We have multiple messages in to the ACO, and we want to talk to him right away,” said Boutin. “I'm afraid. My neighbors are afraid. I intend to pursue this until that dog is put down. I don't want to wait until a child is attacked.”
Attempts to reach ACO Vogler for comment at the West Side substation, and his department-issued cell phone, were unsuccessful last night.
(Union Leader - May 21, 2012)
