[Arizona Hummerboy]

Stun gun saves Shih Tzu from pit bull attack


04:39 PM Mountain Standard Time on Thursday, February 8, 2007


By Steve Bodinet / 3TV reporter
Imagine watching your small dog being torn apart by a much larger one.
That's what happened to a Phoenix woman yesterday as she was walking her Shih Tzu.
It took a Taser gun to chase the attacking dog away.
Lori Hinton isn't married and has no children, but she says she still has still has family, her beloved Shih Tzu, Maddie. Yesterday as she and Maddie were taking a quiet walk, they came under attack.
Today, Maddie is not in a very good mood, and you can't blame her after what happened on her morning walk yesterday.
"I thought she was dead," Hinton said. "The dog wouldn't let go."
Hinton said her pup was viciously attacked by a dog she thinks is a pit bull.
"The dog had her by the underbelly, I could see that," she said.
Chunks of hair mark the battlefield at Hinton's quiet northeast Phoenix gated condominium. She fought in vain to get her Maddie free from the other dog's jaws.
"The next thing I knew men came to my aid and they were beating the dog," she said. "I could hear the reverberation in this dog's body, but it wouldn't let go."
Neighbor Carlos Hernandez finally got the dogs separated by using a Taser gun.
"I Tasered it in the back and it didn't do a thing, so I Tasered it in the neck and it dropped the dog and backed away," he said.
Hinton said the dog's owner, who was visiting her complex, grabbed the stunned dog and fled.
While Hinton said she's thankful to Hernandez and the others who came to the rescue, Maddie is a mess.
Hinton said she'll do what must be done to help her best friend because she's all she's got.
"I've never been more alone, knowing I may lose her," Hinton said