[ SHOWGSD-L ] last word on killer dog in florida
- From: Sheila Lieberman <sheilaofmiami@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: thelist <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 05:25:04 -0700 (PDT)
This is the article from the Miami Herald on line. I could not find where to
get the link to use, and I did not see it in the paper, so here it is for those
who want to know. sheila
CORAL SPRINGS Victim disregarded warnings about dog The boyfriend of a
woman who was killed by her 120-pound dog had urged her to get rid of the
animal because it recently growled at him and her teenage son. BY DARRAN SIMON
dsimon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Video | Dog mauls owner
The bigger the dog, the more comfortable Shawna Willey felt around it.
She had a pit bull named China for about eight years. Last year, she got two
Presa Canarios from the same breeder in the Canary Islands. She named them
Clara and Xeno. And they had nicknames, too. Clara was known as Coco. Xeno was
Boobie. But the burly dogs akin to a pit bull always made her best friend
Dianne Greenhalgh nervous.
''They were just getting too big, too fast,'' Greenhalgh said Saturday. ``I
told her no matter what it costs, she needs to get them on a plane and send
them back.''
Her boyfriend wanted to get rid of Xeno because the dog growled at him and
Willey's son. But she refused. And on Friday it cost Willey, 30, her life.
The 120-pound Xeno attacked and killed her as she was bathing it in her back
yard.
An autopsy on Willey is pending.
Her daughter, Tyra, 9, saw the attack and ran to a neighbor's house for help,
Coral Springs police said. The neighbor called police. Two officers confronted
the dog, which was standing near Willey's body in the back yard.
When the dog became ''aggressive'' to officers, they shot it, according to a
press release from the police.
Willey got Xeno first and Coco a few months later. They were 6 weeks old.
Each cost about $4,000, and Willey wanted to breed them, friends said.
The dogs had their own crates, blankets and balls in one room of the house,
Greenhalgh said. They were not allowed to run around the house on the bamboo
floors. They would usually go from their crates to the back yard.
WEEKEND PLANS
Willey planned to leave Friday to spend the weekend at Greenhalgh's Tampa
home. Her boyfriend, Lazaro Rivero, 38, was going to fly up later. They were
going to take the kids to Busch Gardens on Saturday, said Greenhalgh, who has
known Willey for about 10 years.
Willey was going to leave Xeno and Coco to a kennel and bring China with her.
''She was that wild, outgoing, very intelligent, fun, all-about-her-children
person,'' Greenhalgh said. ``She was far more intelligent than she would allow
you to know.''
Rivero, who owns a landscaping company, came home and helped secure China and
Coco.
Those dogs were turned over to police and are now at the Coral Springs Animal
Retention Facility, Coral Springs police Capt. Rich Nicorvo said Saturday.
Presa Canarios are legal in Broward County. They have powerful jaws and thick
skin.
In 2001, a pair bred for dog fighting mauled a woman to death in San
Francisco. Two neighbors were indicted in the case.
Willey also had a Macaw named Mango. She had bought an exotic bird recently.
But Willey loved dogs -- especially the big ones. She would cook them food
and call them by their nicknames.
''I think because she had been a single mom it gave her a sense of
security,'' said Greenhalgh, 35. ``She is very caring, very mommy-like.''
A trainer had come to the house several times for sessions with Coco and
Xeno, Greenhalgh said.
But Xeno recently growled at Rivero and Trey, said Willey's mother, Mary
Johnson. Rivero, who Willey met in 2002, wanted her to get rid of Xeno, Johnson
said.
''It was not right when a dog growled at his owner,'' she recalled him saying.
Dog trainer Sheila Lieberman said dogs don't just attack people, especially
their owners. Dogs are like wolves, so it's important to establish the
hierarchy, she said.
''There are so many ways in which we indicate who is control -- who eats
first, who goes through the door first, who initiates conversation,'' said
Lieberman, owner of Loving Obedience Dog Training in Southwest Miami.
``With this breed, if you are not clearly in control, they will control you.''
PREVIOUS PROBLEMS
Willey has had problems with dogs before.
In 2000, she was charged with having a dog at large, according to
Hillsborough County Court records. In 2002, she was charged with having a
vicious animal without current rabies vaccination and an animal registration,
records show. The next year, she was ordered to pay $1,000, records show but
the fine was never paid.
Willey was studying to be a crime scene investigator, Greenhalgh said. She
had danced for about 10 years at Mons Venus, a exotic club in Tampa, before she
moving to South Florida. People knew her as Ty -- a stage name that just stuck
with her.
Johnson said her daughter didn't have health insurance or life insurance. The
family is setting up a trust fund to help pay for counseling for the children,
she said.
''They are a complete mess right now,'' Johnson said. ``Their mother was
their life.''
Sheila of Miami
Mernydex GSD's
Loving Obedience Dog Training
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