On May 2nd, my wife and kids took our beloved dog, Cinco, for a walk, as we have done countless times over the past seven years living in our neighborhood. As my family rounded the corner near the end of our street, two dogs attacked them. The neighbor's fence at that corner was not maintained, allowing their two dogs to burst through it. Our two children were chased by one of the dogs, while the other one went after my wife and our dog. My wife tried to pull Cinco out of harm's way, but ultimately it did no good, as Cinco was savagely pinned to the ground and bitten repeatedly. My wife was also bitten trying to fend off the aggressive dog. Both our kids stood frozen in fear, our young daughter screaming at the top of her lungs for someone to help. Eventually the owner of the dog came outside to intervene, but the damage was done.

We rushed Cinco to the emergency vet where he was treated for catastrophic puncture wounds on his back, ribs, and chest. His skin had been completely pulled away from the muscle underneath on his back, creating a deep pocket of space where bacteria took hold and rapidly caused him to go septic. Despite around the clock care from Friday evening to Monday morning, our sweet boy couldn't fight off the infection and we had to make the merciful decision to end his suffering.

Our kids are traumatized. My wife has lingering dexterity and mobility issues with her hands and wrists from being bitten. The kicker is that the person responsible, who initially agreed to cover costs, backed out of our agreement once I asked her to agree in writing and found out how much it would be. To be clear, there is no way this person can completely make things right. Our Cinco cannot be replaced; he cannot be brought back to us. But they had the opportunity to do the right thing, at least in gesture, and they decided instead to abandon their responsibility.

Anyone that knows me well knows I hate asking for help, especially when it comes to finances. This situation especially just breaks my heart, not only because we lost our beloved pet of the last 12 years, but because there's no accountability to swing things in our favor. I have a great deal of faith in people, particularly neighbors, to ultimately do the right thing. This situation has given me a great deal of pause. We're now in a very difficult place due to the emergency bill and we seem to be running out of options. Any assistance is greatly appreciated to help us fight our way back to square one.