Man killed by his own dogs, breaking up fight
This is so horrible... :( :( :(
It appears that one dog lived inside and the other mostly outside, a neighbor was interviewed and said the outside dog was regularly jealous of the inside dog and fights were not unusual. Both were males... don't know if they were both intact or not. :( :(
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaind...270.xml&coll=2
Man killed by dogs inside home defended them as he lay dying
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Karen Farkas
Plain Dealer Reporter
Akron- "Please don't destroy them" were James Eisaman's last words as he lay face down on a stairwell, dying from injuries inflicted by two Rottweilers.
Sandra Ross, who owned the dogs, tearfully said she can't honor that wish.
"I loved him more than those dogs, and they took him from me," she said Monday. "I may never have an animal again."
Eisaman's death on Saturday was ruled accidental, but an expert on Rottweilers said keeping two males together was asking for trouble because they often fight to establish dominance.
"If he got in there, he could have been bitten accidentally, and once he was down and flailing, then dog nature takes over," said Catherine Thompson, past president of the American Rottweiler Club.
Eisaman, 40, moved into Ross' Blaine Avenue home shortly after he met her five months ago. Ross, 48, lived there with dogs Randy, 4, and Kyle, 7.
Ross had raised Rottweilers in the past and got Randy as a puppy. She did not plan to have more than one dog, but she took Kyle back several years ago after the person whom she sold him to had abandoned him.
"I couldn't have him sent to the pound and thought I could find him a home," she said. But he stayed with her, generally living outside in a doghouse in a fenced area while Randy, more docile, lived inside.
Eisaman adored Randy and often took him for walks, Ross said. Ross said that Randy, about 125 pounds, and Kyle, about 110 pounds, often fought to the point where one bled but that they would separate when she or Eisaman issued a command.
Ross believes this is what occurred Saturday:
Eisaman, who had a broken right leg in a cast, awoke around 4 a.m. The dogs were in the basement. The door to the basement was closed, and a basement door to the back yard was open.
Eisaman went outside and got the dogs' bowls. As he washed the bowls in the kitchen, he apparently heard the dogs fighting. He went into the basement, closing the kitchen door behind him. As he tried to break up the fight, he was attacked near the furnace.
The 5-foot-10, 160-pound man crawled up seven stairs, collapsing on the wooden landing, three steps from the door to the kitchen.
Ross said she awoke when she heard a thump. She opened the door and saw Eisaman, with Randy sitting by his side. He told her to save the dogs. She called 9-1-1 and put the dogs in a room in the basement.
She tried to perform CPR.
"His hands were warm, but his lips were cold," she said.
When police arrived, Randy escaped from the room and rushed up the stairs. Police shot and killed him. Kyle was taken to the Summit County Humane Society. Ross wants him destroyed.
So does Vicky Oakes, Eisaman's mother.
"He was completely mauled," said Oakes, who saw her son at the funeral home. "He had said they were good dogs. She couldn't control them."
Eisaman is survived by a daughter and son. His mother said he was trusting and helpful. She spoke to him Friday night.
"His last words were 'Mom, I love you,' " she said.
