When an American bulldog attacked Noah, Patrick Gauthier's Newfoundland, at the Riviera Terrace mobile home park, he stabbed the bulldog repeatedly with his pocketknife to stop it.

Gauthier said he wasn't about to ''let my dog be a chew toy.'' He wants the bulldog's owner to pay for Noah's vet bills.

Tammy, who is the sister-in-law of the bulldog's owner and who was bitten when she tried to break up the dog fight, said that Gauthier was out of line.

''He stabbed the dog 10 times,'' said Tammy, who would not give her last name. ''One stab would have been good enough.''

The whole thing is now in the hands of Anchorage Animal Control, which is investigating the incident, said public relations coordinator Erin Myers.

The officer handling the case took statements from Gauthier, Tammy and a neighbor who saw the attack, Myers said.  According to the statements, about 5 p.m. Friday, Gauthier was at the Riviera Terrace's mailboxes with Noah when the bulldog, Dice, slipped out of the house and bit into Noah's ear. Before Dice let go, Gauthier had stabbed him 11 or 12 times.

Gauthier said the bulldog was tearing at Noah's ear, ''grabbing him and ripping at him,'' and that he stabbed it only as a last resort, after warning Tammy he was going to use his knife.

''There was blood all over,'' he said. ''The neighbors came out and they were all in tears.''  At one point, Tammy got her hands between the dogs and one of them bit her.  ''I didn't even know I was bit,'' Tammy said. ''I got them apart for a second, and then (Gauthier) hit Dice on the head, and I got bit.''

Tammy said she pleaded with Gauthier not to stab the dog. Gauthier, who is a mailman but was not working at the time, said he didn't ask her permission.   ''I'm within my rights to protect my property,'' he said. Both dogs were treated at Pet Emergency Treatment, an emergency veterinary clinic. Both had current rabies vaccinations, Myers said, but must be quarantined for 10 days just in case.

If Animal Control decides the bulldog was at fault in the attack, Myers said, the animal will have a microchip implanted under the skin between its shoulder blades, marking it with a level one or two classification -- a doggie criminal record, so to speak.  ''It's to alert an officer dealing with this dog to look up its file,'' Myers said.

Level one indicates a dog has acted aggressively, and level two is for a dog that has harmed another animal, said Steve Duwa, enforcement supervisor. Level five dogs, those that seriously injure or kill a person, are euthanized, as are dogs that repeatedly injure people or other animals, he said.

Gauthier said he wants the bulldog's owner to cover what he expects to come to about $500 in vet bills. Tammy said that, if anything, he should pay the $2,400 in vet bills for Dice, who had his stomach cut open in the stabbings.

But she mostly wished Dice had stayed inside that day.  ''He's not even my dog,'' she said.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News