HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A Hollywood pet owner is devastated and planning to take legal action after, she said, a pit bull injured her beloved Shih Tzu so severely that the smaller dog had to be euthanized.
Speaking with 7News on Thursday, Jessica Reeder said her everything has been ripped away from her.
“[My dog] was attacked by a pit bull, and he broke his spine, his back,” she said. “His teeth were broken. [The pit bull] pulled me to the ground also.”
Reeder said she was walking her 7-year-old dog Piper on Wednesday night when the pit bull ran out of a home from three houses away and locked his jaws on her pet.
“The dog won’t release my dog, he’s biting my dog, he’s grabbing my dog, he’s biting, I’m screaming for help,” she said. “I’m trying to get up, but I can’t get my balance because I’m holding on to the leash. I don’t want to let the leash go ’cause who knows what he would have done with my dog.”
Reeder said she lived this nightmare for about 10 minutes, until the pit bull’s owner finally came out.
“And he comes over and [screams at his dog], ‘Get out,’ and [says] it’s his dog, and he goes, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,'” she said. “By that time, my dog is crying, weeping.”
Ring surveillance video captured Reeder tending to Piper after the attack.
Reeder and her neighbors rushed the Shih Tzu to VCA Hollywood Animal Hospital shortly after.
“They couldn’t save his life,” she said.
In the hospital, Reeder and Piper said their goodbyes.
“You loved me unconditionally. I loved you back. Sorry, baby,” she is heard saying in cellphone video.
Fighting back tears, Reeder described the ways that her pet was a very special dog.
“He was very special, smart, and he was a good dog,” she said. “You know, never aggressive to anything or anybody.”
Now Reeder wants to make sure nobody goes through the same pain because of this pit bull.
“I’m going to try to fight this in court, get my money and get that dog put down, because that’s more important to me,” she said. “If he attacked my dog, believe me, he’s going to attack somebody else. It could have been a child, it could have been a baby.”
A 7News crew knocked on the door of the pit bull owner’s home, but no one answered.
Reeder said the pit bull’s owner offered to pay for her veterinarian bills, which total about $1,600, but as of late Thursday afternoon, she has not received that money.
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