Pixie, the 6-year-old chihuahua attacked Sunday morning in the field near the Rio Grande Family Pool, is on the road to recovery.
Pixie’s owner, 78-year-old Phyllis Weber, is also on the mend having suffered puncture wounds to both her hands from a pair of pit bulls that came after her dog.
Weber was walking Pixie and her other small dog, Mia, at around 9 a.m. Sunday when she saw the unleashed pitbulls coming out of a wooded area.
The pit bulls ran right to Pixie.
One of the pit bulls grabbed Pixie in its jaws.
“I am not sure what came over me, but it’s like your children and you have to protect them,” Weber said.
She grabbed both of the pit bulls by their collars and pulled them back.
Fellow Villager Elaine Tucker, who was also there walking her dog, kicked one of the pit bulls.
“She was like a warrior. She stuck her hands right between their mouths and saved her puppy,” Tucker said of Weber.
Fellow dog walkers immediately joined in to provide assistance to Weber and Pixie.
Community Watch and later Lady Lake police arrived on the scene. But the pit bulls owners, described by witnesses as a man and woman with small children, had left the area.
“Everybody was wonderful,” Weber said.
Though her hands were bleeding, she first saw to it that her dog received emergency treatment at Buffalo Ridge Animal Hospital. Then, Weber sought medical treatment at the urgent care center at The Villages Regional Hospital.
Pixie was back at the veterinarian’s office Tuesday morning for a followup. She has stitches where the pit bull’s teeth punctured her underbelly.
An incident report from the police department indicates the owner of the pit bulls is a 40-year-old Sanford man.
Police were able to contact him by phone and he indicated to them that the pit bulls have had their rabies shots, according to the incident report.
The pit bulls’ owner also claimed that Pixie was the aggressor, according to the incident report.
Tucker and other witnesses said there is “no way” Pixie went after the pair of pit bulls.