Posted 6:06 am Friday, April 25, 2008
Pit Bulls Attack, Kill Neighbor's Dog, Injure Another
By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer
Kelly Simpson stroked the fur of her 3-year-old chocolate lab mix named "Dibo" looking for gash marks on his body.
Staff Writer
Kelly Simpson stroked the fur of her 3-year-old chocolate lab mix named "Dibo" looking for gash marks on his body.
"If you can get through this, you can get through anything," Ms. Simpson told him.
Dibo was the lone survivor in a brutal dog-on-dog attack Thursday afternoon in his own back yard. "Cowgirl," his playmate, was mauled to death when a doberman pincher and two pit bulls broke through the surrounding six-foot privacy fence.
David Simpson returned to his home in the 4400 block of Tarton Court at around 3 p.m. planning to go to a doctor's appointment. By chance, he glanced into his back yard to see a doberman running by the window.
"I thought 'Oh heck, that's the neighbor's dog,'" he said.
When Simpson reached the sliding glass door and looked into his backyard, he was horrified to see his 9-year-old rat terrier's lifeless body lying next to her doggie Igloo. The next-door neighbor's two brown and white pit bulls sat next to Cowgirl's body.
"When they saw me, one started wagging his tail coming toward me. It was liable to come after me," Simpson said.
Afraid, he went back in his house and closed the door - there was nothing he could do for Cowgirl.
ATTACK SCENE: David Simpson points to spots of blood on the ground where one of his daughter’s dogs, Cowgirl, was dragged after an attack by two neighboring pit bulls on Thursday. Cowgirl died during the attack.
Dibo hurried his way into the house behind Simpson. He was breathing heavy and bleeding.
When the neighbor's dogs were gone, Simpson went to Cowgirl's side. Her throat had been torn open and blood covered her white Igloo.
"They drug her out of there," he said pointing to her doghouse and bed.
Cowgirl, who got her name from the black and white spots that made her look like a mini dairy cow, lived with the Simpson family since she was a puppy. She enjoyed playing with the grandchildren and hiding in the house during thunderstorms.
"You don't want them to go like that," he said.
The slats in the privacy fence surrounding the Simpson's home were wearing down and small holes had formed in the side separating his home from his next-door neighbors.
"That's how they got in," Simpson said, pointing to a spot now boarded up with plywood.
Simpson said he and his neighbor had talked about fixing it, but it was never done.
The neighbor offered to buy the Simpsons a new dog, but that wasn't what Simpson had in mind - he wants the neighbor's dogs gone.
"He's sorry about it, but he's not sorry enough - that could have been my grandkids," he said.
Simpson called Tyler Animal Control, which issued the owner of the dogs several citations including failure to maintain current vaccinations,
Tyler veterinarian David Post, who treated Dibo on Thursday afternoon following the attack said he sees dog attacks all year-round and not just in the spring and summer time.
"They're not that common, but they do happen," he said.
Post suggests making sure your pets are properly secured and that male dogs are neutered.
"Neutering helps. They will be more likely to be less aggressive," he said.
While two of the dogs who attacked Cowgirl and Dibo were pit bulls, Post added that Chihuahuas and cocker spaniels can bite, too. The main difference is their bite does a lot less damage.
For now, Simpson and his family are waiting to see what their neighbor does with the three dogs.
"He can fix a fence, but the damage is already done," he said.
