A Garson woman says she has been scarred for life after watching her five-year-old chihuahua get “ripped apart” by a German shepherd July 11.
Cheryl Nolet took her three dogs — two chihuahuas and a young Irish setter — to their usual stomping grounds, the outdoor skating rink on Gordon Street near the Skead Road Community Club, around 3 p.m. on July 11. As they were getting ready to leave an hour later, Nolet said a German shepherd came tearing across the field and went straight for Nina, her five-year-old chihuahua weighing only six pounds.
“We go there to play fetch,” Nolet said. “We started going back to the vehicle, and this German sheppard came running at us, and it had only eyes for my one chihuahuas.”
Nina yelped and tried to run away, Nolet said in a phone interview. She didn't get far before the German shepherd had her in its mouth.
“As soon as I noticed, I started screaming,” Nolet said. “He had Nina in his mouth, and I grabbed him by the neck and started pulling him. I didn't care. I was hoping he would attack me instead. He didn't even acknowledge me. He had a one-track mind: to kill Nina. I watched my dog get ripped apart. It took all of five seconds.”
After the German shepherd threw Nina to the ground, Nolet said she scrambled to get her other two dogs safely in her vehicle before she could even go check Nina. By then, it was too late.
“I ran back to her, and I watched her have a little seizure and she took her last few breaths, and she was gone,” she said.
Nolet and her three dogs — Nina, Snoopy, a 14-year-old chihuahua, and Merlin, a seven-month-old Irish setter — are regulars at that location. Many dog owners in the area bring their canines there to play.
“Those dogs are my life,” she said.
She had never seen the German shepherd or its owner there before, she said.
About two minutes after the attack, the dog's owner managed to catch up to her dog, Nolet said. She had another German shepherd and her two-year-old child with her.
“She was freaking out. She was in just as much shock as I was. She didn't know what to do. She tried to talk to me after all this happened, but I couldn't even look at her, let alone her dog. She was asking me not to overreact, and kept asking me not to put her dog down, and that she would do everything I wanted to prevent that from happening.”
Nolet was told the woman had just taken over ownership of the dog, and that they had been working with him on behavioural issues through obedience classes.
“So it sounds like he already had issues,” Nolet said. “She should never had let him run without a leash in a public area.”
A day later, Nolet said she's racked with guilt, because she questions whether there was anything she could have done to prevent her dog from being killed.
“I keep wondering if there was anything I could have done differently, or even that I shouldn't have brought my dogs there in the first place,” she said.
Brendan Adair, manager, safety and bylaw services for the City of Greater Sudbury, said the investigation is still ongoing. A bylaw officer visited both Nolet and the owner of the German shepherd.
“I can't really get into detail because the investigation is still active,” Adair said.
However, in the past, with cases as serious as this, the city considers many as part of the investigation many things, such as whether the attack was provoked, Adair said.
“At the end of the day, our goal is public safety, and in this case, that's something we take extremely serious,” Adair said. “It's unfortunate this happened, and we want to play our role to ensure it doesn't happen again.”
The German sheppard's owner has been co-operating with the bylaw officers, Adair said, who added the dog in question has no previous history with animal control.
“We believe this is an isolated incident,” he said.
