A Mountain View family is trying to track down two large dogs that ambushed an elderly woman and her Teacup Poodle, injuring her and killing her dog.
Tina Koza and her 6-pound dog Spike were attacked the morning of June 29 in front of her home on Preston Drive near Grant Road. The two attacking dogs ran off and remain unidentified. Their present whereabouts are unknown.
“She was with a neighbor in front of her house, stopping to examine her hydrangeas, when these two dogs rushed up and started attacking her dog,” said Koza’s daughter Maria Giannini. “She tried to grab her dog from the jaws of one of the (attacking) dogs, and that’s when the other dog started biting her.”
“From nowhere came these two big dogs,” Koza said last week. “I see my dog in the mouth of this large dog.” Her husband Walter said Koza pulled on the collar, tightening it around the neck of the big dog to get it to release Spike.
Koza was hospitalized with bite wounds on her left hand and arm. The attackers were described as large Chow or Chow-type mixed breeds, one black and the other dark brown with light patches of brown.
Both wore thick, red collars and identification tags, but escaped before they could be identified.
Two different witnesses saw the dogs earlier in the morning, Giannini said. One attempted to pursue the dogs as they went into the former farm at Levin Avenue and Grant near the Mountain View-Los Altos border, but the dogs escaped.
Koza, an active member of St. Simon Parish and the community at large, is recuperating at her home.
The vaccination histories of the two dogs are unknown, a fact that Giannini said most troubles the family.
“We really just want to know if they’ve had their rabies shots … and where they are, so that we can make sure other people are safe,” Giannini said.
Meanwhile, Koza is grieving over the loss of her Spike, which she considered a close member of the family.
“He was a very, very loving dog,” she said. “He wanted to stay with me all the time.”
The family is offering a reward for information leading to the capture of the dogs. Anyone with information can call the Mountain View Police Department, 903-6344 and refer to case number 07-4812.
