Family horrified after Pomeranian is killed by Pitbulls

A Calgary family is speaking out, after their pet Pomeranian was mauled to death by a group of Pitbulls.

The dog was killed Monday afternoon in the community of Lynnwood.

Shanese Best and her brother were out with three of their dogs when she says, a trio of pitbulls “attacked without warning”.

The Pomeranian, named Patrick, did not survive his traumatic injuries. Their other dog, a Great Pyreneese named Maximus was severely injured.

“Catastrophic was the best way to describe it,” says Best’s father, Scott McDowell. “Imagine a chew toy. Two pitbulls were fighting over a chew toy and that chew toy was patrick”.

The owner of the pitbulls says one of the females is his own, but says he was dog-sitting the other two.

Stephen Jaquish says he regrets what happened and is sincerely sorry, but suggests the dogs were provoked – and aren’t to blame.

“I feel horrible they witnessed that,” says Jaquish. “My son is in tears. They lost their dog and my son is losing his dog too – a dog who would never hurt anybody. She’s being deemed dangerous, but I think she was just protecting like any other dog would do.”

The Pitbulls have been seized by animal services and will likely undergo behaviour testing to see whether they should be returned to the owner or euthanized.

With files from Jill Croteau.