In the chaos, the owner slipped away, leaving the family to deal with the emotional and financial aftermath on their own.
Now the family of the hurting dog is seeking to hold the other owner responsible.
"Molly," a 4-year-old Shih Tzu, had to undergo emergency surgery four days ago.
"They had to take out about an inch of skin on either side and just remove it," said Cody Joyce, pointing to Molly's 6-inch scar.
He says the attack was unprovoked.
It happened at Dry Creek park - a popular spot, where families take their kids and dogs to play.
Both dogs were on leashes when the pit bull mix ran up to Molly, bit into her, locked his jaw, and shook her like a rag doll.
"He finally released it when I put my fingers in the corner of his mouth and pulled back really hard. He didn't like that," said Cody.
His wife, and several others, watched in horror.
She says the owner was on his cell phone, but eventually pulled his dog back, then opened his wallet, and handed her money.
"He just handed me $100, and I told him this is nothing, there's a hole in my dog, she's going to bleed to death, this isn't going to do anything. And he was just like, ‘what do you want me do to?'" said Ashlynn Joyce.
Ashlynn says she told him to wait while she went to her car to grab her phone, to take down his name and number.
But when she got back he was gone.
The Joyces are grateful Molly survived, but the efforts to save her don't come cheap – the family has spent nearly $2,400 so far. They hope the owner of the pit bull will step up.
"In our opinion, you're responsible for all the costs, and I don't want to demonize the guy, because maybe the dog never did it before," said Cody.
The family moved to Clovis a month ago.
Cody says the move and now Molly's veterinary bills, it's lot for a young family.
And the veterinary bills could continue to pile up, if Molly's cut doesn't heal properly, she might have to have another surgery.
The Joyces did not file a police report, so the owner of the pit bull mix will not face any charges or fines.
But they did file a report with Clovis Animal Control services.
Anyone with information on the attack is asked to call animal control at 559-324-2450.
(KMPH - Nov 28, 2012)
