Tiny Chihuahua-Pug Survives Coyote Attack

A nine-pound Chihuahua-Pug mix named Tina from Seattle, Wash. wrangled with a coyote and lived to tell the tale.

The incident occurred Monday afternoon when Tina's owner LaQuita Fenton was outside with her dog waiting for her children to come home on the school bus ," reports the Seattle Times. Two-year-old Tina was like a family member to Fenton and her two children, ages 8 and 6, who had inherited the small dog from Fenton's grandmother, who passed away three months ago.

On this particular day, as soon as Fenton set Tina down, the tiny dog spotted a coyote lurking in a wooded park across the street and ran up to the animal for a friendly sniff. "Suddenly, the coyote snapped at her and started shaking Tina in his mouth like a rag doll," says Fenton, who was horrified.

As the coyote mauled Tina, Fenton was screaming, throwing rocks at the coyote as her children and the other kids on the bus witnessed the whole incident, screaming. "They had to restrain my children from running off the bus," Fenton told Paw Nation.

Local TV reporter Chris Legeros happened to be on the scene and threw a stick at the coyote, who dropped the dog. Legeros then went into the woods to retrieve Tina. "To be honest with you, I thought she was dead," Legeros says. "It was very still, its tongue was sticking out of its mouth, it was breathing but very slowly and its eyes were wide open."

Fenton took Tina to the Seattle Animal Shelter, where she begged the staff to save her dog. They said they would try, but that the surgery would be expensive -- about $1,000. Fenton, a welder who is unable to work due to burns and nerve damage to her arms, couldn't afford it. "They said I would have to surrender her to them," says Fenton. "Me and my kids were crying, but I told the shelter to do what they needed to do to save her."

Tina was taken by shelter staff to Animal Critical Care & Emergency Services, who performed surgery to repair Tina's torn neck muscles and puncture wounds.

That Monday night, Fenton received an anonymous phone call from a woman who said she wanted to help pay for Tina's surgery, and the Seattle Animal Shelter agreed to let Fenton reclaim her dog. "The staff here are pretty excited that we made the decision to give Tina a chance and that we did the right thing by returning her to her family," the shelter's director, Don Jordan, tells Paw Nation.

"Tina is doing great," Fenton tells Paw Nation. "She's on pain medication and waiting to get the tubes removed from her neck."

Still, Fenton isn't home free, yet. Tina, who had belonged to Fenton's grandmother, wasn't spayed, microchipped or licensed. The shelter also wants Tina to get all her shots -- all of which costs money that Fenton, a single mother, doesn't have.

If you'd like to make a donation for Tina's medical costs, you may contact the Seattle Animal Shelter.

Tags: coyote, dogs