Rochester, Rochester Hills

Pit bulls euthanized after attack on puppy

By Erin McClary
C & G Staff Writer

ROCHESTER HILLS — Three dogs are dead after a pit bull allegedly attacked a terrier puppy while it walked with a teenage boy the afternoon of Aug. 30.

Oakland County sheriff’s officers responded to the scene — on Culbertson, a residential street in Rochester Hills — around 1 p.m. According to the police report, said Lt. Ray White, the girlfriend of the owner of two pit bulls was walking the dogs, and one of them got away.

Neither dog was wearing tags, he said, because they weren’t registered.

A short time later, according to the report, a woman, “apparently a dog lover,” White said, saw the stray dog wandering around, figured it may have gotten loose from a veterinary clinic a few blocks away, and put it in her car to return it.

“While she was driving there, the dog, apparently, saw this terrier being walked by a teenaged boy,” White explained, “and apparently this pit bull saw this dog, jumped out of the open window, and attacked it. The teenager was unable to protect the dog.”

The terrier was immediately taken to the nearby vet, where it was pronounced dead.

Following the initial police report, White said, “the father of that boy told people that both dogs were there … but that it was one dog that primarily did the damage.”

The terrier, White said he believes, was a puppy. The ages of the pit bulls were not known.

Joanie Toole, administrative supervisor for Oakland County Animal Control, said she got a similar story, but it was immediately reported that two dogs were loose at the scene of the attack. “To my knowledge, both were running at large, but only one did the attacking and killed the smaller dog,” she said. “What was told to us while being dispatched is that there were two dogs running at large.”

When officers arrived, however, both dogs were already in the their owner’s home. Animal Control officers only took into custody the one that allegedly did the attacking. The other dog was picked up two days later.

“Two dogs that live at that address where the dog owners lived, the dogs that did the attacking, were euthanized,” Toole said Sept 1. “We picked up the one that did the attacking … at the time of the of incident. We just picked up the other one that was running around at the time. We convinced the owner that was the right thing to do.”

Both were euthanized Sept. 1, and tickets were issued for dangerous dogs and running at large, she said.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Erin McClary at emcclary@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1118.