Tiny dog killed by bigger one at animal hospital

Dolce never had a chance.

The five-pound Pomeranian was attacked, ironically, inside a veterinary hospital, by a much larger dog, said Dolce's owner, Mike Mengarelli of Aurora.

The dog was attacked Dec. 5, just inside the doors of Orchard Road Animal Hospital in Montgomery by an English mastiff, which likely weighed more than 120 pounds. The mastiff took Dolce in its mouth and shook the Pomeranian around, Mengarelli said.

“I actually had to put the dog in a chokehold to get him to drop my dog,” he said.

And despite having professional care at hand, Dolce was too severely injured to be saved.

Mengarelli's dog and his attacker both were patients at the animal hospital.

“Both dogs were on leash and both owners had control of their dogs,” said Lisa Gruhlke, practice manager of the animal hospital. “We are unaware of any reason why the dog was going after the other dog.”

She added, “This is one of those tragic incidents that can happen anywhere under any circumstances. We feel horrible for the loss of the one patient.”

And aside from the obvious pain of losing a beloved pet, Mengarelli said he is dismayed to learn there are few repercussions for what happened, unless he opts to sue someone.

“We lost our dog. He was a show dog; he had awards and years' worth of training,” Mengarelli said. “There were truly no consequences.”

Municipalities regulate what consequences animals and their owners may face for attacks against humans or other animals, said Mary Lawrie, administrator of Kane County Animal Control.

Many towns, including Montgomery, where Mengarelli's dog was bitten, do not consider animals dangerous unless they attack a human or attack an animal twice or more within a defined time frame.

Mengarelli said he contacted Montgomery police and an officer filled out an incident report. Montgomery Police Chief Daniel Meyers confirmed they have a report and said there are no charges against the large dog's owner because there was no criminal intent in the “unfortunate accident.”

Lawrie said she mailed Mengarelli a blank incident report early this week, which animal control will keep on file if it is returned.

“If there are multiple complaints against an animal, then we will go out and interview people to determine if it is dangerous,” Lawrie said.

Mengarelli said a simple incident report does not account for how much people value their pets. He and his wife, Heather, owned Dolce for two years before his death and have owned another Pomeranian, Lindsay, for eight years.

Mengarelli suggests there need to be stronger laws to cover animal-on-animal attacks. He said he has placed a call to the DuPage County state's attorney's office and started researching local municipal codes.

“It doesn't seem like a fair outcome for this kind of thing,” Mengarelli said. “We really want to make it a point to advocate more laws.”

For now, though, Lawrie said the best recourse for owners whose pets are hurt or killed in animal-on-animal attacks is to file a police report and consider filing a lawsuit.

Mengarelli said, “I think we would go that far.”