Woman claims man attacked her dog during walk in park

PITTSBURGH — A woman says a man pepper-sprayed her dog in the face, and she thinks it's all because of the breed.

"This was just totally shocking for him to do this!" Nicole Lepre said. "He was jogging, and as he was jogging he bent down and sprayed her."

She said the man, who was about 6-foot-5', attacked her dog Maeby in Frick Park Tuesday.

"I screamed at the top of my lungs, 'Why would you do that!?'" Lepre said. "She probably thought this guy was bending down to pet her, but he hurt her."

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Lepre's fiance ran after the man on the Duck Hollow Trail, but couldn't catch up.

"We saw three or four other dogs on the trail. We asked them (the dogs' owners) if they saw them, if he did anything to their dogs, they said no," Lepre told Channel 11. "So I think this may have been an attack on the breed."

Maeby is a pit bull.

"I'm assuming he was bit by a dog before, and that's why he did it," Lepre said. She immediately poured water on Maeby's face to ease the pain.

"I took off my shirt, I had a sports bra on, took off my shirt, soaked it down, just put it on her face," Lepre said.

She said she won't go to the trail alone and is thinking of arming herself.

"We're thinking about getting pepper spray, because his face is etched in my mind right now."

The dog is OK. Lepre did report what happened to police. She wants other dog owners to be vigilant.

Cox Media Group