"I really wish I had videotaped it because people wouldn't believe the way it was handled. It was so sad," says Bob Helle. Bob Helle says he was working on a school roof in the Point Place neighborhood when the scene began to unfold. "I can still see it running through my mind. Shooting that little defenseless dog as it was sitting on the front porch waiting to get back in," says Helle.
According to Helle, he could see the dog running around the neighborhood and near the school where he was working. "The dog was jumping around a man who was in the area holding his child, wanting to play. That's why it's so unbelievable they shot it with dart," says Helle.
Someone called the dog warden about the loose dog. Deputies chased it, but couldn't catch it. They finally got it into a fenced in yard, but it jumped out. It eventually came back to the front porch of the home where it lived. Helle says that's when another deputy pulled up with a tranquilizer gun. "The window comes down and here's this blonde with a rifle sticking out the window. Pow! I couldn't believe it. My heart dropped, my buddy's heart dropped. Just unbelievable. They never even tried with any kind of net or any kind of loop pole," says Helle.
"It's upsetting. My wife has shed tears. I've been all choked up. It's awful," says owner Chad Snyder. Princess' owner says he understands the importance of tranquilizers, but says his dog was less than 20 pounds. "They rolled up on her, stuck the rifle out and blasted her. There ought to be some kind of a weight limit," says Snyder. Snyder and Helle are hoping Princess' death brings change. "You've got 5 humans versus a 10 pound dog and this is the best you can do. There's got to be a better way!"
13abc talked with Lucas County dog warden Tom Skeldon. He says because the dog was loose near a school his deputies took extra precautions to keep people safe. He says his office tranquilized more than 150 dogs last year and none of them died. He's offered to find the Snyder's a new dog.
