Woman Describes Horrifying Dog Attack

The description of the scene sounds like something out of a Stephen King story.

Two intimidating dogs, each standing about three feet tall and weighing about 140 pounds apiece, dart into a residential lawn on Little Punkup Road after chasing deer in a nearby remote wooded area on Saturday afternoon. The dogs surround 67-year-old , forcing her to fall to the ground before the woman’s pet cat catches a dog’s attention.

“It was terrifying; I thought they were going to attack me,” she said.

One of the dogs ran toward the cat – a brown and gray feline with striking green eyes named Tortellini that the Pelleys rescued three years ago – and the mauling began. Dorothy Pelley heard the cat screeching and crying, and when she turned around, her feline friend was dead, lying underneath the bloodied mouth of the massive canines.

The dogs started running around the lawn, and one knocked a piece of patio furniture, sending it flying into the other dog, which scared them both away, Dorothy Pelley said.

She picked herself up off the ground and ran toward her cat. She bent down and picked up Tortellini, clutching the animal she called her “poor baby” in her arms. But it was too late. The cat was dead and the dogs were gone; they haven’t been seen again.

Dorothy Pelley said her husband, Jim, had been walking in nearby woods when the attack happened and had almost been attacked by the same dogs before putting his back against a tree to avoid being surrounded.

“They must have still been in that pack hunting mode and they were looking for prey,” Dorothy Pelley said.

Local officials are searching while the Pelleys grieve over their loss.

“I’ve had nightmares about this. …It’s like losing my child,” Dorothy Pelley said. “That’s how much we loved this cat.”

Pelley said she tells her story because she doesn’t want another person to suffer the same fate. She said her neighbors have young children and small dogs, and she fears for their safety. She hopes that someone will find the dogs, if only to confront their owners. But so far, it doesn’t look promising.

She said Oxford Assistant Animal Control Officer Cori Wlasuk and two members of the Oxford Resident Trooper’s Office were “amazing” in the way they handled the case, making Jim and Dorothy Pelley feel comfort after a tragic situation.

“They were very thorough in their investigation,” Dorothy Pelley said. “It goes to show that people in Oxford really care. People have been very supportive.”

Wlasuk said she and the two officers spoke to everybody they saw in the neighborhood.

“Nobody saw anything,” she said. “It is very unusual. …If these dogs were Great Danes as they have been described, they are about 140 pounds apiece. They are pretty hard to miss.”

She said she saw paw prints in the snow at the Pelley household that she says are consistent with large dogs. They followed the tracks and drove around for hours looking for the dogs but couldn’t locate them. She also said there is no record on file with the town that indicates Great Danes or similar dogs are owned by people who live in the area. She also said there have not been any other complaints of vicious dogs, or calls about dogs roaming in the area.

Wlasuk said Oxford Animal Control officials will continue to investigate, but she’s not sure they will locate the animals because they have very little information to go on.

“It’s very unfortunate. I felt very, very bad because this was their precious baby,” she said.

She reminds residents to not allow dogs to roam and to not rely on an in ground invisible fence to keep them in the yard, especially because of all the snow and water on the ground.

And she said people should make sure they have dogs and other domestic animals registered with the town.

Dorothy Pelley said that is what responsible pet owners do, along with keeping track of their animals at all times. Surprisingly, she holds no ill will toward the dogs, but takes issue with their owners.

“I can’t be mad at a dog for doing what is natural to them,” she said. “I’m terribly hurt by what they did, but it is the owners who were irresponsible. They can’t allow animals like that to roam.”