This memory is accompanied by the sound of her own voice "screaming to high heaven," as she describes it, for somebody to help her because the dog was going to kill her pet, Muffin. Teets was out walking Muffin early on the morning of May 29 when the other dog attacked, and Muffin died from her injuries later that night.
Teets, 77, is now trying to get tougher warnings put into place for potentially dangerous dogs. She is also telling anyone she sees walking near her Chesapeake Avenue home about the location of the dog who attacked hers, trying to keep other people and their animals safe.
Emotional connections to Muffin run deep because Teets' daughter gave her the puppy six weeks before she died. Already widowed Teets lost her only child, Christopher Newport University professor and vice provost Tracey Schwarze, when she passed away in 2010 at age 48.
"When Tracey was in the hospital the last week that she was alive, I'd come home and pick up that little dog and sit on the kitchen floor and cry," Teets said.
Muffin was her reason for getting out of bed each morning for the last three years, she said.
"That little dog was just the sunshine of my day," Teets said.
Muffin, a tiny Pekingese and King Charles Spaniel mix, weighed nine pounds when she was grabbed up at the intersection of Hollywood Avenue and Shatto Drive. Teets held onto her leash as long as she could during the pit bull attack, with the leash eventually breaking and leaving bruises on her wrist and a deep cut on her hand.
The pit bull took Muffin behind its house, leaving puncture wounds on her stomach and mouth. Teets said she "begged her not to die," and though veterinarians tried to save her, she did not survive.
The next day once one dog walker found out, word spread and there was a steady procession of visiting dogs and owners to Teets' house. One big Bassett Hound, Gus, gnawed some of Muffin's chewy treats and cleaned up stray Kibbles she had left around the house.
"I wasn't able to get dressed until after two o'clock that day from the people who walk their dogs who had heard this and were coming up, bringing their dogs and coming in my house," Teets said.
Teets has filed a complaint with animal control about the dog attack. The pit bull's owner has offered to pay vet bills and to get Teets a new dog, but she said that she worries a neighborhood child will be the next victim of a dog attack.
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| RIP Muffin |
Hampton allows animals to be off leash as long as they are under voice command by their owners and prohibits the tethering of animals. Teets thinks there should be more precautions, especially for animals with a history of violent behavior.
"The law needs to be changed and I'm going to work very hard," she said. "That's what my mission is going to be. Pit bulls need to be labeled as dangerous dogs, and they need to have a sign posted on their property warning there's a dog here that is not a friendly dog.
"They will say that not all pit bulls are like that, and I give you that. But none of us know when our animal will become vicious. I mean who knows what could trigger it."
Dog regulations
Leash, tethering and other regulations to restrict dogs vary by locality. To check the state's Dangerous Dog Registry, go to vdacs.virginia.gov/animals/dogs.shtml.
(Daily Press - June 20, 2013)
