Thelma Tines of Williamsport stands on her front porch as she describes the dog attack that killed her beloved dog Lokie. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A Williamsport woman remains admittedly traumatized today after a large-breed dog that got inside her home attacked and killed her “Lokie,” a black 14-year-old Jack Russell terrier and pug mix.
“Something has to be done,” said Thelma Tines, 83, of Memorial Avenue, after she said that she lost Lokie early Wednesday morning to a stray dog with only a “towing chain” on its neck and no tag or identification that she could see.
Still emotionally distraught, Tines contacted the Sun-Gazette concerned that dogs such as this might be on the loose and attack children and other dogs on leashes.
Lokie’s last moments
It was 6:20 a.m. when Tines said she began to take Lokie out for his morning routine.
Loki was on a leash, she said. When she opened the door of her double house, with Lokie, he did not quite get out of the door threshold before the large dog was right there and snatched Lokie, clenching the smaller dog with his jaws by its midsection.
“I tried to pull Lokie away to close the door,” Tines said. “I called for help.”
“I tried to get the dog off Lokie,” she said. “I thought if I could pull him into the house, the dog would let go.”
Instead, the dog kept its jaws on the pooch. The dog, still attached to Lokie, walked into her living room, which is in the front of the house. It picked him up and shook him like a “rag doll,” she said.
“I tried to fight him off,” Tines said, acknowledging she had a baseball bat and pepper spray in arm’s reach, but that the attack happened so fast she said she could only watch as Lokie went lifeless on the carpet.
Tines said the large dog backed up and remained on her porch. She said she immediately contacted the Williamsport Bureau of Police, who had an officer arrive. “I said, ‘you can’t let him go, he killed my dog.’”
A neighbor and the officer were able to take the dog into her back yard, but apparently the gate was not tight and soon the dog was back on her front porch, she said.
“I had two leashes and the officer put a leash on the dog and tied him to my fence,” Tines said. Soon, the Lycoming County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals personnel arrived.
Tines said her son told SPCA officials to bring the truck around the back because he did not want his mother to have to see the dog that just attacked and killed her dog.
Tines said her son reached out to those at Heavenly Paws, 316 Rose St., where Lokie was cremated.
“I called my vet and they gave my son the number for Heavenly Paws, who came over in about 20 minutes,” Tines said.
“They returned his ashes, paw prints and nose print,” she said, tearing up.
“Lokie’s ashes are here in a little box that says – ‘Until we meet again at the rainbow bridge.’”
An advocate for others
Now that the incident is over and fresh in her mind, Tines said she wanted to be an advocate for others with tame dogs, some, like Lokie who might bark now and then, but who don’t attack other pets or people. And who should be able to, without fear, walk their dogs on a leash outside.
“Far too many dogs are running loose in the city,” she said, recalling how three or four years ago she was walking Lokie in her neighborhood when she had to jump on him and cover him up on the ground to prevent a dog from attacking her pooch. In that case, the owner went to court to pay a fine, she said. She paid the fine and court costs and did not show up, Tines said.
As for the recent attack, Tines is adamant that it not be brushed aside.
“This can’t be let go,” she said. “It hit home. It hit hard. He had cataracts and I know I would not have him for many more years but he did not deserve to go like this.”
“It should have been put down,” Tines said of the large-breed dog that killed Lokie.
“It could be a child or somebody else or another dog or pet that becomes its victim,” she said.
Tines, a widow for three years, lost her husband Paul, who adored Lokie.
“He was the only thing to keep me company after I lost my husband. This can’t be let go.”
When such incidents happen, city police and state police are among the first responders on the call list.
“We are the first call most people make in some form of crisis,” said city Assistant Police Chief Jason Bolt.
“In this case, officers thought quickly, used their brains, isolated the dog so that it could not injure the officer or another person,” he said.
“Our priority is always the safety of citizens and everybody,” said Bolt, adding the police will tend to contact the state dog law officer or the SPCA, unless it is an absolute emergency. We try to do what we can.”
A message was left by the Sun-Gazette for the Sarah Morehart, the state dog warden for Lycoming County on this incident.
The state has a leash law that requires all dogs must be under control, according to the Bureau of Dog Enforcement.
This means when a dog is not on a private property, it must be under the direct control of the owner or a handler.
The best way to control a dog is with a leash. The dog that attacked Lokie had a tow chain around its neck with no identification. Dogs are personal property.
The Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement is charged with protecting Pennsylvania’s puppies and dogs, protecting consumers, and protecting our communities from dangerous and stray animals.
The bureau does this by ensuring the welfare of breeding dogs and puppies in kennels. They also regulate activities pertaining to dogs that are classified as dangerous and oversee annual licensure and rabies vaccinations for dogs.
State dog wardens also pick up and transport stray dogs to shelters and if licensed, there’s a higher chance they’ll get reunited with their family. The bureau disburses funds to shelters that take in and hold stray dogs.
Under observation
Tines said she was told by the SPCA that the dog would be under observation for a period. An attempt to reach a manager at the shelter for a statement was not immediately successful.
“My daughter checked and the dog was up there as of Thursday night,” Tines said.
