Two dogs kill California great-grandmother, police say

This story originally appeared on KCRA.

MODESTO, Calif. — A brutal dog attack left a Modesto great-grandmother dead. Police are investigating the death of Chanthy Philavong, 93, who they say was attacked in her front yard Thursday by a neighbor’s dogs.

The family is remembering their matriarch as a loving lady full of life, who always had a smile on her face. That’s how neighbors also remember her.

“She’s just the quietest, smileyest, little old lady, ” said Jeniece Dendulk. “She was wonderful.”

Dendulk lives next door to the Philavong family and was home Thursday afternoon when a pair of dogs got loose. “I recognized the dogs as our neighbor’s dogs,” she said.

The dogs, which Dendulk believes are the breed Cane Corso, first showed up at Dendulk’s front door. Her security camera video shows the pair of dogs at the door, wagging their tails. Dendulk opened the door, but the left the screen door closed.

“All of sudden, they take off, and then I hear screaming, so I take off out the door,” Dendulk said. “I hear the mom, and she’s screaming for help, and I see the grandma on the ground and the dogs have her.”

Dendulk said the dogs trapped Philavong between her front door and the wall. She started throwing shoes and pots at the animals and said Philavong’s grandsons ran to help. She said they managed to drag her inside the home. “It was chaos. It was a matter of 80 seconds,” Dendulk said “Just like that everybody’s lives changed. It was awful.”

The family and Dendulk were holding on to hope Philavong would make it. She was stable Thursday evening but took a turn Friday and died.

Dendulk is now relying on her faith and friendship with the family, who is coping with such a tragic loss.

“If I’m feeling this way, I can’t imagine how they’re feeling,” she said. “That’s their home and they have to live with that.”

A woman who answered the door of the home of the dog owners said she was in Arizona at the time of the attack. Modesto police said they are still investigating and can’t say one way or the other about ticketing or charging the owners. The dogs are in custody at the Stanislaus County Animal Shelter.