'I was begging the man to help': Off-leash dog attacks German shepherd in northeast Edmonton
A dog required emergency surgery after what its owner described as a vicious attack Friday evening in northeast Edmonton.
Janis Fitzpatrick was walking her nine-year-old female German shepherd cross Xena around 4:30 p.m. near 123 Avenue and 42 Street. A man was walking his dog off-leash when it bounded over down the hill and attacked Xena.
"[It was] very ferocious biting her," Fitzpatrick told CTV News Edmonton. "Had a very strong grip on my dog. I could see my dog wasn't fighting back she was trying to get away from this dog."
While it was happening, Fitzpatrick said the other dog's owner stood at the top of the hill and watched.
"I was screaming, pleading, can you please come help me, come get your dog," she added.
As she was struggling to get the dog off hers, the owner finally came over and put a retractable leash on it, Fitzpatrick recalled.
"I saw blood squirting from my dog's chest and I knew there was an open puncture wound," she said. "I knew that it was probably very serious."
"I was begging the man to help us, and he refused. He started to walk away, he said, 'Suck it up, she's fine. Just put some ice on it.'"
A photo of the dog and its owner that Fitzpatrick says attack her dog Xena (Supplied).
According to Fitzpatrick, the man unleashed his dog again after he walked away. She pleaded to get his information, but he refused.
"I did have some fears that this dog could come back and finish off my dog or even attack me," Fitzpatrick said.
In the nine years she has walked Xena in the Bergman Park area, Fitzpatrick says she never had an issue. She reported the incident to Animal Care and Control, hoping to identify the owner and his dog.
She rushed Xena to an emergency veterinarian, where her dog needed surgery to close the wound on her chest and three staples for the one on her back. Her vet bills are approaching $2,200 so far.
"They said she was lucky," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm just blessed that someone was watching over us because she's my best friend, and she's my whole life."
Janis Fitzpatrick pets Xena a day after she had emergency surgery for wounds from a dog attack (CTV News Edmonton/Amanda Anderson).
Fitzpatrick hopes Xena will fully recover and is asking dog owners to keep their beloved pets on a leash.
"Please be careful with your pets," Fitzpatrick said. "This may happen again, and I don't want that for anybody."
On Feb. 9, the City of Edmonton confirmed that the owner of the dog who bit Xena has been given a bylaw ticket for the attack and for not having a pet licence.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.