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Residents want to know what can be done after a mastiff jumps a fence and kills another dog.
By MAUREEN BYRNE
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 17, 2000
SEMINOLE -- Just as she had every day for the past year, Henrietta "Blondie" Hawkins was walking her dog, Tassie, in her neighborhood in Lakeside Estates.
As she and her 1-year-old Pomeranian passed a particular house on the afternoon of Dec. 8, Mrs. Hawkins picked up the pace. She was afraid of the two dogs that lived there.
The dogs, a Neapolitan mastiff and a Rottweiler, often barked and lunged at either the front windows or a chain-link fence as Mrs. Hawkins and Tassie walked by, but they never did more than that.
Until that day.
One of the dogs, the 100-pound mastiff, jumped the 4-foot fence and charged at them. "All of a sudden I heard this arrr, and this freight train was running for me," said Mrs. Hawkins, 53.
The mastiff grabbed the 18-pound Pomeranian with his teeth. Mrs. Hawkins tried to fight off the dog, but it wouldn't let go. She screamed for help, but no one came.
"It had my little dog by the belly," Mrs. Hawkins recalled. "It was the most awful thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. I can't even close my eyes at night because I see my precious baby being ripped apart."
Neighbor Middy Larson was driving on Harborside Circle and heard the screams long before she saw Mrs. Hawkins, covered in blood and kneeling in the middle of the road. What she saw sickened the former emergency room nurse.
"I've seen some grisly stuff, and this was pretty grisly," Mrs. Larson, 63, said.
She honked her horn. Eventually, the 3-year-old mastiff let go of the Pomeranian, but it was too late. As the women rushed to a veterinarian's office, Tassie died in Mrs. Hawkins' arms.
"If I had known that dog could clear that fence, believe me, I would never have walked there," she said. "Shouldn't I be allowed to walk in my own neighborhood without fear that my dog is going to be ripped apart?"
That night, Mrs. Hawkin's husband, T.D., typed a flier telling neighbors' about the attack and warning them to be aware when passing Charles and Kathleen Hayes' house. He dropped one off at 84 homes.
Our house has been left with a large void this holiday season. Make sure yours isn't by keeping your pets and children far away from 11417 Harborside Circle.
Linda Britland, a senior animal control officer for Pinellas County Animal Services, said the agency is investigating the incident and has fined the dog's owners $90.
When reached at his home Friday evening, Charles Hayes declined to comment.
In this community, where neighbors often know the names of each other's dogs before their owners' names, the killing of Tassie is an outrage. But it was not necessarily a surprise to a group of Lakeside Estates neighbors who gathered Thursday in the Hawkinses' home.
One by one, they shared their fears of the two dogs on Harborside Circle. They worry the mastiff will injure or kill another dog, or possibly a child.
Tammy Doyle, 37, told how two years ago the mastiff charged at her and her 8-year-old dog, Trixie, while they were walking past the Hayes' house. Mrs. Doyle said she balled up her fist and struck the dog on the jaw. Her knuckles bloodied.
"We ran and we didn't look back," Mrs. Doyle said. "It scared us to death."
Judy Matthews, 51, owner of two Pomeranians, said she always carries a bat when she walks her dogs past the Hayeses' house. She said the two dogs ram the front windows when they're inside or lunge at the fence when they're in a side yard.
"They never have attacked me," she said. "But they instill fear in me."
Pam Richards, 51, said she changed her walking route two months ago because of the dogs. She said she now drops her 3-year-old golden retriever at home before she continues her 6-mile walk.
Freddy and Denise Layman, who live next to the Hayeses, say they avoid their pool when the Hayeses' dogs are in their fenced-in back yard because they are afraid of the dogs.
Robin Daisley, 35, said she used to pull her 3-year-old daughter in a wagon on Harborside Circle. But after what happened to Tassie she no longer does.
"Nobody who lives in any neighborhood should have to curtail activities they enjoy because they're afraid of what might happen," she said.
Yet fears alone are not enough for Animal Services to do something about the neighbors' complaints. Without any documented incidents, the agency cannot respond.
A report filed a day after the killing is the first the county has received on the mastiff, whose name is Zor, Britland said.
She said the county now has affidavits from two other residents of Lakeside Estates who allege that the mastiff bit their dogs. She said one of the affidavits states that the mastiff is not dangerous.
Florida law says a dog can be considered "dangerous" if it has more than once severely injured or killed a domestic animal while off the owner's property. If county officials determine that a dog is dangerous, it will be euthanized.
Some owners can keep their dogs during an appeals process if they agree to abide by the agency's rules such as keeping the dog muzzled when in an enclosed outside area.
"Once an animal has killed another animal, it may be animal aggressive," Britland said. "If given the opportunity, it may do it again."
Britland said if other homeowners in the Lakeside Estates neighborhood have experienced an incident with the mastiff, or any aggressive dog, they should file an affidavit with the animal services agency.
And if an aggressive dog is running loose, she advises people to immediately call the agency. But the department has only 16 field officers and may not be able to respond right away. If that's the case, she said, a police department should be notified.
Britland said she has file cabinets full of reports about aggressive dogs, but oftentimes the victims never follow through with the case. She blames that on the strong bond between dogs and humans. Many times the individuals who file the reports have pets themselves and don't want to be responsible for the death of someone else's pet.
As far as the Hawkins' case, "It is very definitely looking like a very strong case for public nuisance, and we may upgrade it to dangerous dog if more witnesses and victims come forward with enough evidence to support Florida laws and county laws," Britland said.
This may all have been avoided, she said, if the Hayeses had a 6-foot privacy fence instead of a short chain-look fence. Owning an aggressive dog isn't against the law, Britland said, as long as its owners take steps to protect the public and keep the animal secure at all times.
The Hawkins aren't sure if they'll get another dog.
"It could have been a child," Mrs. Hawkins said. "The law protects the guilty one. Where are my rights?"