A woman and her dog in Collier County were attacked by another neighborhood dog after it jumped the fence of its owner’s home.
“I bent down and picked up my dog, ‘Oh, no,’” Nadine Nardi said. “And then he grabbed it one more time and shook it and then, when that happened, I thought, ‘I can’t save her; she’s going to die.’”
Nardi has fresh bite marks on her back and up and down her arms after rescuing her 4-year-old Chihuahua, Cleo, from the neighbor’s Dogo Argentino.
“And I screamed for the people in the house, ‘Oh, my God; help me; help me,’” Nardi said. “The whole attack I was screaming, and not one person in the house came out to help me.”
Nardi says she knew about the dog.
“We had been warned that they had a vicious dog,” Nardi said.
Nardi told us she’s always cautious when walking Cleo through their neighborhood, and she wasn’t sure she would escape the encounter with her neighbor’s dog.
“I didn’t think I was going to survive,” Nardi said. “Came blaring at me, and I picked up my Chihuahua and threw her on my shoulder, and the dog just jumped on me and grabbed her by her hind legs and took her down, shook her like a rag doll.”
Nardi said the dog’s jaws clamped down into her skin several times as she wrestled the dog, struggling to free her pup. But in those hopeless moments, Nardi managed to grab Cleo and escape.
“I ran all the way home with the dog behind me,” Nardi said.
Nardi is scared to venture back outside and is warning neighbors of the attack. The person who owns the dog didn’t answer the door, but barking can be heard from inside.
Nardi wants the dog gone from the neighborhood. The owner of the dog agreed to quarantine it for 10 days while animal control investigates. If the dog is deemed dangerous, the county attorney will decide if it will be taken away.
“I can barely walk without pain,” Nardi said.
Are Dogo Argentino breeds aggressive?
“They were recently bred for hunting, and they still are actively hunted dogs,” said Josh Faulkner, a breeder with La Historia Dogo Argentino. “They are powerful and dominate, so that is their intention.”
Faulkner says these types of dogs must be trained properly.
“I don’t want people to think that the breed is pre-disposed to behavior like this,” Faulkner said. “It’s really just the handler being inexperienced.”
Now, the dog is in quarantine for 10 days while the county decides if the dog should be labeled dangerous.
Nardi hopes she can feel safe in her neighborhood again.
“Children my main concern,” Nardi said. “I don’t want them to have ever to have to experience something so awful … I’m too afraid even to go check my mail now.”
Both Nardi and her Chihuahua are recovering from the attack.
If county attorneys determine the dog qualifies as dangerous, they will issue a dangerous dog declaration. The owner will then have seven days to appeal or 15 days to register their dog as dangerous. We tried to reach the dog’s owner but never got a response.