Pasco family wants county to step in after neighbor's dog attacked
LUTZ, Fla. (FOX 13) - Some neighbors want a dog out of their Pasco County neighborhood after it bit a smaller dog and a man last week.
Sparkle, a 7-year-old Chihuahua is recovering four days after her owners Ken and Mary Haskell said a neighbor’s dog mauled their dog Thursday.
“She’s got five holes in her. We took her to the vet, and they stayed open a little bit late for us,” said Ken Haskell. “They cleaned her up a bit, and they put staples in. They gave us pain medication.”
The Haskells said they were outside in their Lutz RV community with neighbor Richard Burcher. Burcher said he walked over to loan the dog owner a tool when the attack happened.
“He had the do, and he was going to come out and greet us. So, naturally, I reached down to pet him, and he nailed me,” said Burcher.
He ended up with a bite wound on his hand.
“You have a big dog coming at you, you’ll be scared no matter what size you are,” said Burcher.
And after Burcher got the dog off him, he said the dog ran toward Sparkle.
“As soon as I recovered from that the dog took off, broke loose and come over and jumped up and grabbed the dog off the seat and just was shaking the hell out of it,” said Burcher.
Haskell saw this happen and tried to save Sparkle.
“I hit him once, he never did nothing. So I hit him a couple more times, and he let loose of her,” said Haskell.
The Haskells said they called Pasco County Animal Services Friday, but they said they were told the worker may be too tied up to make it out that same day. They said they want animal control to step in, and they are disappointed the dog is still in the neighborhood.
“I need to see the dog gone, and we don’t want this to happen anymore,” said Haskell.
The owner of the dog that attacked said his dog has never bitten another animal or person before this incident. He said he does not want his dog taken away.
He and the small dog’s owners said they expect to talk to Pasco animal control Tuesday and see what they say.