[News] Family Mourns Yorkie Killed by Lab
 

Mortified over the mauling of their dog by a Labrador retriever, a Palatine family considered moving days after the family pet died.

Olivier Coibion said that he exited the front door of his west Palatine apartment July 3 when a neighbor's dog attacked his leashed Yorkshire terrier, biting and shaking the 8-pound dog in its jaws.

Coibion said he pinned the black Lab down by its throat until the owner, a neighbor, arrived.

Inspecting the Yorkshire terrier, Dixie, Coibion found a flesh wound on her abdomen and brought the pet to a Palatine animal clinic, where she was sutured and released later that afternoon, he said

After a night of vomiting, Dixie died at 7 a.m. July 4 and was cremated at a pet funeral service.

"This was not a typical dogfight incident," said Coibion, who lives in Countryside Apartments on the 1200 block of Sterling Avenue.

'No provocation'

"There was no provocation and no snarling, just an instantaneous and fatal attack by an (80-pound) Lab on an (8-pound) Yorkie," he said.

Palatine police said Brittany Stemmen, 24, was issued two $20 citations for allowing an animal to run at large and to bite another animal.

No history of violence

Though Coibion believed the Lab should be put down, Palatine police said it would remain in Stemmen's care because her dog did not have a violent history in Palatine or in Bloomington, Ill., where it also lived with Stemmen.

"Biting or other violent behavior might enter into a case like this, yet (Cook County) ordinances require nothing more than citations and no executions," Cmdr. Sam Maki said.

Stemmen paid the family $400 in veterinarian bills, but said more money was not forthcoming.

Coibion said Dixie's full-bred worth, past vaccinations and the cremation cost $948.

Stemmen said, "It's hard to write a check for $1,000 with no receipts for those services. I'm willing to take full responsibility for this and make people as comfortable as possible, but I need to be responsible, too."

"I didn't intend for any of this to happen."

She also said she temporarily let go of the dog's leash in the yard when it bolted.

"I don't know why this happened."

"My dog was always laid-back and sweet. I know that in this neighborhood, you could not go outside without encountering three or four dogs. Maybe she was not used to that."

Lab returns to shelter

On Saturday, as requested by the apartment complex's manager, Stemmen returned her dog to the Humane Society where she took ownership three years ago.

Coibion said his family eventually decided against moving to Arlington Heights.

"We have to walk through the door where it all happened, which is very upsetting to do because doing so reminds us of Dixie," he said.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/...06-983266.html

This also happened to my friends yorkie ,walking down the street and a niegbours Lab jumped the fence and killed her little yorkie.

I know that Labs are really popular family dogs but I don't trust them. When I was younger, I lived in a duplex with the landlord living on the other side. He had a chocolate lab I knew from the time it was a puppy. Out of the blue one day, I drove into the driveway, opened my car door and was just ready to get out when the lab came charging to the car, barking, snarling and showing its teeth!

I spoke to it and called it by name, thinking it might be momentarily confused and would recognize me. It didn't matter; the dog kept snarling and snapping like it had lost its mind. I had to get back in my car and wait until the landlord restrained him. WEIRD!

These dogs can turn nasty without provocation. Poor little Yorkies!!!:(

Julie

Any dog (not just labs) can turn against someone, even their owners. No one knows for sure why some dogs do this (even when their history is free of any violence). - Just as some people that you would never suspect of doing something horrible, sometimes they do too (whether it be stealing from their company or killing their spouse) - even with no history of violence. It is strange how that works....and scary! :confused:

I have had labs my whole life and have not had a problem with any of them. They were bought as puppies or we raised from birth or were rescued. I think it just all depends. I don't know. Just as I know of a family who had pit bulls (which, I have never liked these dogs, not sure why), that loved their kids and all who entered into their home (these dogs stayed in the house). These dogs, have never even growled at anything - they let the deer and squirrels come into the yard, the mailman, etc. BUT yet, all you hear about are the bad about them. So sad! :(

I might ruffle feathers, but I think if a dog attacks, out of no reason or provoction and kills....it should be put down. Just, as I think that any human that does this, should be "put down" too. It is horrible!!! :mad:

I do feel terribly sorry for this family. I know if I were in this situation, I probably would have moved, I couldn't stay it - I would relive that day for the rest of my life! That poor family! :aimeeyork

I was gonna post about the same thing, Labs are very common family dogs, but I think they accounted for the most dog bites one year, I dont have any resources on hand...but I remember learning about this. Everyones afraid of pitbulls and rotts, but labs can be more dangerous than them!

I feel so bad for that family :cry:

Did you hear about the cat that keeps attacking people, I forgot how many times, but it was a lot, and people are fighting for this cats right to live!!! I mean, if it was a huge pitbull, chances are it would be put down on the spot (atleast that's what I read in the news whenever a bullybreed attacks).

Very very sad!!! My heart goes out to the family!

I can't say anything bad about labs. Anyone who's actually smart in dog knowledge knows ANY breed could attack another breed. ANY DOG AT ALL. I've had one lab in my lifetime who was aggressive towards other female. I have a lab now who wouldn't even hurt a mouse. So it's rediculous to say, "oh labs are bad dogs." Just like it's rediculous to say, "pit bulls are bad dogs." All we can do is be good, responcible owners and TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN our own dogs and hope that everyone else will also do so.

you are correct there. from documents, labs and cocker spaniels are the top two dogs most likely to bite. pit bulls are actually WAY down on the list. BUT, it doesn't mean anything. As I stated in my other comment. In the end, the owner is at fault. A good, responcible owner would have properly socialized their dog and fully trained it.

It's true that any dog of any breed can attack, but certain breeds contain this trait as kind of a standard. Like certain dogs are breed for certain reasons, attacking is one of those traits in certain dogs.

If the dog has it in his natural instincts to attack, it's not as easy as 123 to diminish that. And please do NOT say it can be trained to not attack, I'm dealing w/ a dog like this and know from hands on experience what it's like. It said the dog had no history of attacking, so like most people, if the dog is really good w/ other animals and people, they probably didn't treat it as if it does attack.

I agree with what you have said here. Training is the key word. The Lab owner had gotten the Lab at the Humane Society three years back, not knowing the age or history of the Lab, wonder if this had happened before?
People are encouraged to get pets from the Humane Society, but I wish all people were responsable pet owners, then there wouldn't be so many ending up at Humane Society in the first place. They at the Humane Society really don't know if the pets they are adopting out are free from any bad happenings in the past unless they are told. I am so sorry for this incident happening, there is so many laws for people to be responsable pet owners but then there are those that don't abide by them which causes others to suffer, even their dogs.

Exactly. there should be much harsher laws on owners. It should be a law if you have a dog, it is required to go through at least one course of training and actually graduate. I know most trainers just let the dog graduate once the course is over, whether it learns anything or not. It shouldn't be that way. They should require the dog to fully understand what it is taught before graduating. I think sometimes people have no idea what they're getting into when they get dogs. They just think, oh a cute cuddly dog. Like yorkies and smaller dogs are the WORST behaved for grooming. And it's because their owners are all, "oh they're so cute they would never be bad." I got the crap bit out of my hand yesterday by one of those same "cute precious" shih tzus. Even our "precious, cute, would never bite anybody" furbabies need training.

I agree, if there was a law like that then there would be a lot less attacks

Did you know that smaller dogs are more likely to bite than any other dog? It was stated somewhere (if I find it, I will post the link). And that the Dalmation is the worst dog to have if you have kids.

So with these facts, it is on paper that if you have kids, etc. these dogs are a big "no,no"...........BUT how many of our little dogs (no matter if it is a yorkie or not) is aggrassive and bites kids and people?? Really!?

I agree with several who say training is the key. I always agree (and stated earlier) that just because one dog bites, doesn't mean another one of the same breed will be aggrassive. That isn't fair or right....it is discriminating against a certain breed. Okay, we all have our certain favorite and "hated" breeds and that is okay...we are all different.

I just know that no matter what kind of dog you have, it may become aggrassive for no reason and then, steps need to be taken to correct this problem. Such a sad story!