‘She saved my life.’ Ashville woman recounts pit bull attack that killed her goldendoodle
After a 73-year-old Pickaway County woman was mauled to death by two pit bulls Thursday, one of the dogs killed another neighborhood dog, according to the pet’s owner.
Courtney Johnson lives in a subdivision adjacent to the condo community where the two pit bulls lived. She was walking her two miniature goldendoodles, Barkley and Sunny, at about 3 p.m. Thursday near Teays Valley East Middle School when she saw one pit bull near the entrance of the school’s track.
She said it’s not uncommon for people to walk their dogs off-leash. She said she looked around for its owner but didn’t see anyone and thought the dog was a stray.
Sunny, a 2-year-old miniature goldendoodle, was on a walk Thursday afternoon with another goldendoodle and their owner, Courtney Johnson, when Johnson said they were attacked by a pit bull in Ashville village, Pickaway County. The attack occurred after that pit bull and another pit bull from the same owner mauled and killed 73-year-old Jo Echelbarger as she tended her garden in her nearby condo community. The two pit bulls were put down by police shortly after the attacks.
After hearing Barkley and Sunny barking, the pit bull suddenly turned and came after Johnson and her dogs, she said.
Pickaway County woman recalls dog attack: “I will die right here.”
The pit bull attacked Sunny’s backside. Johnson started screaming and pulling at Sunny’s leash attached to Johnson’s waist.
“I was pulling on hers, like trying to get her at least taken out of his mouth, and I couldn’t,” Johnson said. “At one point, I was dragged to the ground, and I was like, I can either kick this pit bull, and it’s going to turn on me, and I will die right here, or I just have to drop their chains. I have to detach myself, detach my male so that Barkley could run and I could run. So, that’s what I did.”
Johnson said a few seconds after she started running, the pit bull dropped Sunny and took after her, but she ran through a wooded area, and the pit bull did not follow her. Johnson safely made it to her sister’s house, which was nearby and had a fence so she could at least somewhat protect herself. She called her husband, who went with her 16-year-old stepson to find Sunny. They brought shovels to distract the pit bull. Eventually, they scared the pit bull away, and it ran into a neighborhood.
Johnson went home to get her car, but by the time she returned to Sunny, the dog had died in the arms of her 16-year-old stepson.
Luckily, the pit bull never touched Barkley, Johnson said.
Johnson said both her dogs are sociable, love people and have been great with her children. She described Sunny as an independent girl who loved to do her own thing, while Barkley stayed by Johnson’s side.
“She saved my life and saved Barkley’s life,” Johnson said. “She’s definitely always the leader of the pack.”
Sunny, left, and Barkley, right, are two miniature goldendoodles owned by Courtney Johnson and her family. Johnson said she and the two dogs were on a walk Thursday afternoon when they were attacked by a pit bull and Sunny was killed. The attack occurred after the pit bulls mauled and killed 73-year-old Jo Echelbarger in the Pickaway County village of Ashville. The pit bulls were put down by police shortly after the attacks.
Sunny and Barkley were littermates, and Barkley will turn 3 on Dec. 8. The Johnsons’ got Sunny first and then took in Barkley when he was about a year old after Barkley’s first owner could no longer care for him. A cousin owns Sunny, and Barkley’s mom, Johnson said.
Even though the dogs came from the same litter, Barkley had a much different life from his first owner. And it was Sunny who helped him adjust once he joined the Johnson family, Johnson said.
“He didn’t know how to play. He was caged the whole time. (Sunny) taught him how to run and, how to play, and how to be social and interactive. She was so laid back,” Johnson said.
No charges in fatal Ashville dog mauling as of Monday
Earlier on Thursday, two pit bulls mauled Jo Echelbarger, 73, as she was gardening outside of her condominium in the 600 block of Kildow Court on the village of Ashville’s north side. Echelbarger was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in downtown Columbus, where she died shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, The Dispatch previously reported.
A woman wrote on Nextdoor that police officers shot one of the dogs five times, but it retreated into a home. Police entered to verify it was dead, according to previous reporting.
Johnson said two police officers put down the pit bull that attacked and killed Sunny.
Pickaway County Commissioner Gary Scherer told The Dispatch previously that the county dog warden, county prosecutor and city attorney will discuss Monday whether to bring criminal charges in the case. As of 11 a.m. Monday, police have filed no charges in the incident.
People in the Ashville community are upset because they think something should’ve been done about the dogs earlier, a neighbor told The Dispatch Friday. The same dogs allegedly attacked and killed another neighborhood dog last year, the neighbor said.
The Dispatch is not naming the dogs’ owner because no criminal charges had been filed in the fatal attack. As of Sunday at 3 p.m., the owner was not listed in Pickaway County jail records, and there were no new court cases filed against him.
Johnson said she didn’t understand why the owner of the pit bulls had not been held accountable before after the alleged attack last year. She wants the dogs’ owner and the local court system to be held accountable, and for laws to change now that two dogs and a human have died because of an irresponsible dog owner, she said.
“I, ultimately, would love to see justice come to the dog owner and for the courts to make this right on behalf of all of the victims because, like I said, balls have been dropped,” she said. “There’s a lot of gray area when it comes to dogs and dog owners, and who takes responsibility.”
