“Our grown son took Marley for an evening walk and they got 10 feet into the park and this dog came charging toward Marley, picked him up by the back and wouldn’t let loose,” said Chuck Truitt of East Wenatchee and the owner of the Lhasa apso that was attacked.
Marley ended up with a broken back and a punctured lung, and died a short time after the attack, Truitt said. The park is at North James Avenue and Eighth Street Northeast.
Sgt. Jody White with the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society said officials also planned to deem the pit bull, named Bullet, a dangerous animal. This requires that the owners provide a $250,000 insurance policy on the dog, keep it securely locked up and that they muzzle the dog and keep it restrained on a “substantial chain or leash and under the physical control of a responsible person” if it is out of its enclosure.
White called the attack “a very sad and preventable thing,” noting that the Lhasa apso was on a leash and the attacking dog was off leash.
“The woman with the pit bull yelled and yelled and yelled at the dog and pulled the dog off, but it was too late,” White said.
White said she can recall only about six cases over the past eight years in which a dog in Chelan and Douglas counties has been deemed dangerous.
The dog’s owners can appeal the fine and the decision to deem it dangerous.
This week, Truitt was mourning the loss of his pet. “He was like our son; he went everywhere with us, he slept with us and he played with us,” Truitt said. “He just had a great personality.
The attack happened about 5:45 p.m.
“The thing that really upset us is that there are always a bunch of little kids over at the park playing soccer, and this could have been a little kid that the dog went after, Truitt said. “Luckily, the kids weren’t over there at that time.”
(The Wenatchee World Online - Apr 25, 2013)
