POTTSTOWN - After a deadly dog attack, a group of residents has decided to be more proactive dog owners.
An educational program, hosted by Bark Busters, "is a tribute to our beloved little "G" ... who was attacked, mauled, and killed on Friday May 23," a flyer for the program states.
On May 23, around 8:15 a.m., a woman was walking the 3-year-old Yorkshire Terrier in the 400 block of Beech Street when a gray Pitbull-Mastiff started running toward her and the dog.
According to Carla Day, a witness to the attack, the scene was "chaotic."
The 1-year-old Pitbull mix did not have any identifying tags or a collar, Day said. Neighbors tried to get the Pitbull to drop the smaller dog, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
"It was violent," Day said. "One person used Mace on the Pitbull, but that didn't do anything. People were using shovels and brooms to hit the dog so it would drop (the Yorkshire Terrier)."
Officers from the Pottstown Police Department arrived on the scene along with a representative from animal control, but Day said there weren't any actions taken to sedated the Pitbull mix.
"It went on for about 20 minutes," she said.
The owner of the Pitbull mix arrived at the scene and told police his dog got out of the yard after someone failed to close a gate properly.
And when the attack was over, Day said the Pitbull-Mastiff mix went back with its owner.
After seeing the severity of the attack, Day is confident that a child could have suffered serious injury if something similar were to happen.
Now to raise awareness about safety, canine body language, dog bite prevention and responsible dog ownership, the neighborhood has organized a free seminar.
Bark Busters - which will be in charge of the training - describe its training as, "(focused) heavily on training people, as much or more as training dogs, so that once you learn to communicate effectively with your dog, you will have the necessary tools to be an effective dog trainer and 'leader of his/her pack,'"
The training will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Chestnut and Washington Street Park on June 8.