Dogs attack and kill Bichon / Lhasa mix in its own yard

UNITED KINGDOM -- Bill Volk was clearing snow off of his forklift just outside of his family home on Monday, Dec. 9 when he heard a chilling sound coming from the front of the house.

“At first I didn’t know if it was (our dog) Snap. Then I heard squealing, and Snap got bit by a coyote about five years ago out here and he made the same noise. I knew it was Snap. I started running, but you can only run so fast… When I got up top (to the driveway), there were two large dogs, a white one and a black one,” Volk recalled.

Grasped firmly in their jaws, the two unidentified dogs reportedly had Volk’s family dog, Snap, a 14-year-old bichon frise / lhasa apso, pinned to the ground.

RIP Snap

“One was pulling on his butt and the other was choking him,” he said.

Although Volk chased the two dogs away, the white dog, returned shortly thereafter in an attempt to finish the job, Volk alleged.

Protecting his dog once more, Volk chased the white dog halfway down the driveway.

“He just stood there and wouldn’t move,” Volk said.

Volk then rushed his beloved dog, whose shoulder and right side had been torn open, to a local veterinarian. There, Volk was told that as a result of Snap’s injuries, his blood pressure was too low to attempt experimental surgery that could have repaired his wounds.

“If I had been within a few feet I probably would have been able to save him,” Volk said. “It brings tears to your eye every once in a while, but what can you do? He was 14; he probably would have made it another four years. He was pretty healthy.”

With the help of some neighbours, Steve and Sarah Hanson, Volk was able to track the white dog back to a home in the area.

“Yesterday we got a phone call that Sarah had seen the white dog again at the church where she parks to pick up her kids from school,” Volk said. “I dropped what I was doing and ran over there. We followed the dog back to a neighbour’s house just north of here.”

Within 10 minutes of having phoned the Strathcona County RCMP, the white dog had been apprehended.

“Charges have been brought forth to the owner of the white dog under the Dog Bylaw for the dog attack,” said Wilf Gillis, supervisor of Strathcona County Enforcement Services.

Those charges include two charges for the dog at large and one charge for the attack.

Volk and his family have not yet spoken to the dogs’ owners, but would prefer to see the white dog destroyed.

“They were pack hunting, basically, and the white dog was definitely the leader of the pack. I’d like to see that white one put down, I really would. I don’t think he needs to be in this neighbourhood for any reason. The white dog is the one that I want.”

The decision to destroy the dogs, Gillis said, would have to be one ordered by the courts.

“If a child were attacked, it would definitely go under the Dangerous Dogs Act. In this case here, it’s not in our bylaw to have the dog destroyed,” he explained.

(Sherwood Park News - Dec 27, 2013)