Woman Protects Service Dog From Pit Bull Attack

CHAMPLIN, Minn. (WCCO) ― A Minnesota service dog doing is recovering after its owner fought off an attack by pit bulls -- with her wheelchair.

"I didn't know what to do. It was really scary," Tara Wirtjes said.

Wirtjes, who is a quadriplegic, said she thought the pit bulls might kill Rue, her golden retriever. Rue is a service dog for Wirtjes. Whatever she can't do... Rue can.

But on Monday night, it was Wirtjes who came to Rue's aid.

"These two dogs came just running out," Wirtjes described. She was walking her dog in a quiet Champlin neighborhood when the pit bulls charged out of a yard and lunged at Rue.

The dogs bit the golden retriever so Wirtjes started spinning her wheelchair to break the dogs hold.

"I just thought this is how she was going to die," she said.

The pit bulls were finally called off by their owner but not before they had broke open Rue's scar that was healing from an recent operation.

A neighbor, who did not want to identified, said the pit bulls had escaped twice before and attacked other dogs. That information outraged Wirtjes.

"He knew that these dogs were dangerous," she said.

But Wirtjes received good news from her vet: Rue is going to be OK. And for Wirtjes that's all that matters.

"It would be devastating to me to have something happen to her," she said.

Champlin Police seized the two pit bulls and they're being held at animal control until this investigation is over. The dogs' owner could be charged with a crime.