Steeler’s former dog dies

When Mr. Harrison returned to his house, police officers were present, and the child and the women were being put into ambulances.

“An enraged Harrison’s first thought was to go into his house and get a gun. ‘I told police I was going to put the dog down right there,’ ” Mr. Harrison told his biographers.

When police told Mr. Harrison he would be in trouble if he shot the dog, he backed off, and the dog was sent to an animal control facility.

“While he loved the animal, he did not want to give it the chance to harm another child,” according to the book. “As the days passed, Harrison rethought his decision because he didn’t believe the dog was inherently bad.”

When the dog was returned to the Kains by his second owner, he became especially attached to Mr. Kain, who has retired from the Pittsburgh police and is now a police officer for Chatham University.

Mecca followed him everywhere and especially liked riding with Mr. Kain in the front seat of his truck.

In December 2009, many people were happy to read in Pet Tales that Patron had been “saved.” But a few sent nasty emails to me and Mrs. Kain, calling us “crazy” and other words that could not be printed in a family newspaper.

The dog would attack again, and the blood of his future victims would be on our hands, said people who didn’t sign their names on emails and blog posts.

The Kains spent $15,000 on cancer treatments at Ohio State University and Pittsburgh Veterinarian Specialty & Emergency Center in Ohiot Townnship to buy Mecca an extra year of life, and it was a good year. But then they had to let him go.

“MK and I took him in to give him another chance in life,” Mr. Kain wrote on Facebook. “But truly he gave us another life. ... I will miss him with all my heart.”