Dog mauled to death while in owner’s arms
When Linda Schreindorfer takes her two-year-old granddaughter for a walk in their Ste-Anne-deBellevue neighbourhood these days, she has an unusual object in her purse — a steak knife.
Schreindorfer began carrying the knife after witnessing a dog kill another dog in an attack last month.
She and her husband were driving on Meloche St. when a dog called Max dashed across the street in front of their car.
The dog, a mix of a French bulldog and basset hound, sniffed another dog and then ran over to a cockapoo named Ozzy that was being walked by its owner, Lynn Serre, and her teenage daughter.
Serre pulled Ozzy into her arms when Max was at her feet, but Max grabbed Ozzy by the leg, while writhing and growling, according to Shreindorfer, who watched the scene unfold from her car.
As Serre tried to protect Ozzy from Max, her daughter tried to pull Max away while another friend struck the dog with an umbrella, hoping it would loosen its grip.
“It was awful,” Schreindorfer recalled. “There was screaming and yelling, the dog was growling and Ozzy was yelping.”
Serre’s daughter ended up on her knees trying to pull Max off of her dog, said Schreindorfer’s husband, Michael Donegani.
“It was like a tug of war as they tried to get the dog to unclamp.”
A 72-year-old woman who had been walking Max was unable to stop the attack. The woman had been walking the dog with a leash, but took it off as she opened the front door and the dog ran outside.
The woman’s son raced out of his house and pulled his dog away from Ozzy.
“I have heard of attacks, but never envisioned how very violent it could be,” said Schreindorfer, adding that the attack has unsettled the quiet community where many people have dogs.
Following the attack, Schreindorfer drove a frantic Serre and Ozzy to a veterinary clinic in Kirkland, but it was too late. Ozzy died of internal injuries after a major artery had been pierced.
Schreindorfer said she emailed city officials saying she is worried about the safety of her granddaughter, who lives on the same street as Max.
“I am terrified,” she said. “I won’t walk her near that house and I take her for a walk on my street now.”
The dog attack was raised at a city council meeting last month with one resident saying not enough is being done to enforce animal bylaws.
City officials issued three tickets to the dog ’s owner for bylaw infractions following Ozzy’s death, said Paola Hawa, the mayor of SteAnne-de-Bellevue. The owner was fined for not having the dog on a leash while outside, for not having a “Beware of Dog ” sign in the window and for not having a city tag for the dog. The city has not made a decision on whether it will ask Quebec’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to assess Max.
Serre said her memory of the attack is fuzzy because she was so traumatized the night her dog was killed. She said she remembers holding her dog to keep it away from Max.
“All I remember is a scuffle at our legs and then Max had Ozzy and we were hitting Max,” she said.
Some of her neighbours are now carrying mace, and she doesn’t think Max should be in the neighbourhood.
“He shouldn’t be there if he can hurt someone,” she said.
Max’s owner insisted that his dog is not aggressive and said he wouldn’t have him in the house with his two children if the animal was dangerous.
“This is a one-time unfortunate incident that ended the way it did,” said the owner, who didn’t want his name published.
“We go to different dog parks and nothing happens. Kids are there and nothing happens.”
The owner said when he came outside, people were hitting his dog repeatedly with an umbrella and punching and kicking it.
But Schreindorfer said she believes that Max needs to be muzzled when outside and undergo training to be less aggressive.
“I am worried that because he did this, he might do it again,” she said.