'I was punching and kicking the pit bull to try and make him stop, but he didn’t even flinch'

CANADA -- At 6:40 a.m., on Wednesday morning, Pitt Meadows resident Greg Wyatt took his Yorkshire terrier Tucker for a walk.

He couldn’t imagine what would unfold before he returned to his Shoreline Strata home, located on Fraser Way in Pitt Meadows.

As Tucker and Wyatt made their way down their driveway back to the house around 7 a.m., a pit bull being walked by another resident in a neighbouring complex, broke free of his owner’s hold, ran towards Tucker with the leash still around his neck, and attacked the small dog, killing him, Wyatt recounted.

RIP little Tucker

The entire attack took less than a minute, said Wyatt.

“Tucker’s neck was broken and his tongue was hanging out, but the dog was still shaking him,” Wyatt told the TIMES.

“I was punching and kicking the pit bull to try and make him stop, but he didn’t even flinch.”

Eventually, the pit bull stopped shaking the eight-pound Tucker, dropped him, then backed away.

It was only then, he said, that the pit bull’s owner intervened, took the dog away, and carried on with their walk.

For Wyatt the tragedy of losing his beloved pet is compounded by the fact that he believes the whole event was avoidable.

Wyatt and his wife Judy live in a strata residence, and noted that a year and a half ago, a neighbour told them her dog was attacked by the same pit bull.

“We had warned the strata that something like this could happen, but no one seemed to want to address the issue,” said Wyatt, who claimed to have sounded the alarm in his family-oriented neighbourhood, fearing a baby or young child could be next.

“It’s so sad,” he said. “What if that had been someone’s child?”

Some of Wyatt’s neighbours witnessed the attack, and since then the SPCA, the RCMP, and the Strata company have been informed.

Mounties and the City are investigating. In the meantime, Wyatt said he considering civil action against the strata.

An event like this should be cause for the strata to seriously question its policies on what kind dogs residents are allowed to own, he said.

“This dog has caused trauma and it’s really gotten out of hand,” Wyatt explained.

At the moment, however, all his family’s focus is on mourning the loss of seven-year-old Tucker.

“All I know is I have a dead little dog who was the sweetest dog ever,” he said.

His wife said she was “heartbroken” by the loss. “These little ones are part of your family.”

(Vancouver Sun - July 31, 2014)