'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
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.