A Montreal family grieving the loss of its Yorkshire terrier after it was attacked by another dog believes the Coderre administration's so-called pit bull ban doesn't go far enough.
On the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 26, Frédéric LaBrie was walking Bequec, his seven-pound yorkie, in Lafontaine Park, when another dog, a Bull terrier, charged the animal, biting him in the back.
"As I was walking, I saw on another pathway, and older lady who was having problems keeping her dog on a leash," LaBrie says. "It was about 10 metres from us. And then I heard a shout, I turned my back, and the dog was coming for us."
The sudden attack took just seconds, and the bite was strong enough to shatter Bequec's spine and puncture his lungs.
"He was gushing blood everywhere," he says. "It was like a crime scene."
Bequec was quickly rushed to a vet, who could only ease his suffering as he died.
"The vet told me, 'your dog is in so much pain.'" he said. "Waiting another 10 or 15 minutes is too much."
LaBrie and his wife, Marianela Valdes, have a three-year old daughter, for whom Bequec was a full-fledged member of the family.
"He was like her guardian and all. She was sleeping with him," she says. "She's always asking when he'll be back."
LaBrie doesn't blame the owner of the dog that struggled to keep hers on a leash, adding she was remorseful, and then helpful in getting the dog to a vet. But he adds in the wake of the attack, he'd like to see Montreal's existing pit bull rules extended to include just about every big dog — not just 'pit bull-type dogs', as the current regulations stipulate.
"Maybe these kinds of dogs shouldn't have to wear muzzles everywhere, but I think that in parks, on weekend days, summer days, things like that...bad things can happen."
He says his wife intends to file a request with the city to revisit the pit bull rules.