Small dog attacked, killed while at Pender Co. daycare

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — One woman is missing a piece of her heart after her pomeranian was killed while at a doggy daycare facility.

Linda Stanhope is grieving the loss of her 11 month old pomeranian, Lucy.

“I’m feeling devastated. My whole family is devastated,” Stanhope said.

On Sunday, Lucy was killed while at Pups Play & Stay in Pender County.

“I have two dogs roaming the house, now they’re in the bushes all the time looking for Lucy. They’re around the house looking for Lucy all of the time,” Stanhope said of her two German Shepherds. “So it’s been devastating and I don’t want anybody else to go through this.”

Stanhope had used Pups Play & Stay since 2016 to board her two German Shepherds and recently her pomeranian.

She says she considered the staff like family until now.

Stanhope was told the facility was introducing a recently rescued 25 to 30 pound dog into the small dog room.

Lucy, who was only four pounds, got out of the room and the large dog attacked her.

She was transported to East Carolina Vet and pronounced dead on arrival.

“Basically, she was shaken to death. That is my understanding,” she said.

Stanhope says she was originally told the larger dog was not on a lead, but the owner of Pups Play & Stay, Thomas Donatone, later called her to tell her the dog was on a lead.

The facility’s cameras went out on Saturday and could not be rebooted until Monday morning, so there was no footage of the incident to be reviewed.

Donatone says even though he managed to get the cameras working again, he is installing an entirely new system because he does not trust that his current one would not go out again.

Stanhope believes Pups Play & Stay should do a more extensive screening of new dogs, including a temperament test.

Donatone says the owner of the attack dog had rescued the animal less than a month before and had not noticed any aggressive behavior before the incident.

He says the owner even referred to the dog as shy.

Donatone says when the owner came to pick up the dog after the attack, he mentioned the dog had been found near a fighting ring.

While Stanhope holds the owners of the dog and the facility equally accountable for the attack, her husband, Wayne Manning, who works at the daycare disagrees.

He says the dog’s owners or the rescue the dog came from are at fault.

Stanhope wants to create a law to prevent this from happening again.

“My goal is to have an animal treated the same way we would treat a human being. Whether it’s a dog bite on an animal or a dog bite on a human being, it needs to be treated differently,” she said. “They’re not property, they are children to us.”

Stanhope would like for boarding facilities to have cameras working at all times and more extensive background checks on adopted animals.

She has created a petition to get this signed into law. For more information on the petition, click here.

The Pender County Sheriff’s Office is investigating this incident.

Since both animals live in New Hanover County, Pender does not have the jurisdiction to declare the dog who attacked Lucy dangerous.

When the investigation is complete, the findings will be forwarded to the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office for further action.

Donatone says the dog who attacked Lucy is no longer allowed at Pups Play & Stay and they are working on procedures to ensure this does not happen again at the daycare.