SABIN, Minn. — Dave Altenbernd said he was never one for small dogs until he got to know GiGi. The 12-pound Shih Tzu was his mom’s dog — her closest companion after her husband, Altenbernd’s father, died in 2016.

They lived on the farmstead in rural Sabin where Altenbernd grew up and where generations of his family have lived for almost a century. When Altenbernd’s mom died at age 93 in July 2023, Altenbernd inherited GiGi, and she grew on him instantly.

“GiGi had a great personality and character,” he said. “People would always want to stop and say hi to her, comment on what a neat dog she was. She just had a way about her. I took her on a lot of adventures the last year or so and really enjoyed having her around.”

But in September, Altenbernd had to make the difficult decision to euthanize GiGi after she was attacked by a dog that lived across the road.

“We had just gotten home and driven into the yard and I let her out of the car outside the garage. It was only seconds … before I heard GiGi make a horrible noise — it wasn’t a yelp or a bark or anything like that — it was just a suffering sound,” he said. “I jumped out and saw that dog running away from her, and she was just lying there.”

GiGi was badly injured. She had been bitten across her midsection, and her ribs were broken, Altenbernd said. He brought the 10-year-old dog to the emergency Red River Animal Hospital in Fargo that night, but the estimate for her treatment was between $8,000 and $10,000.

The veterinarians said even with the surgeries, they were unsure GiGi would have a good quality of life going forward.

Altenbernd decided to have her put to sleep instead, still incurring a bill of over $3,000.

Previous attacks alleged

GiGi the Shih Tzu. (Courtesy of Dave Altenbernd / Forum News Service)

It wasn’t the first time GiGi had been attacked by that same dog, a 5-year-old husky-German shepherd mix named Tootsie that weighs approximately 60 pounds and is owned by a nearby neighbor.

The first incident happened when Altenbernd’s mother was still alive, in February 2023.

That time, Tootsie’s owner, Ronald Case, paid for the vet bills, which were under $1,000, after he was made aware of the attack, Altenbernd said.

Case’s property sits across from the Altenbernd farm. Three tree rows, a couple hundred feet, and County Road 65 separate the homes. Case has lived there for at least 25 years, public records show. He has at least one other dog, Altenbernd said, but that dog has never been a problem.

The first incident happened when Altenbernd’s mother was still alive, in February 2023.

That time, Tootsie’s owner, Ronald Case, paid for the vet bills, which were under $1,000, after he was made aware of the attack, Altenbernd said.

Case’s property sits across from the Altenbernd farm. Three tree rows, a couple hundred feet, and County Road 65 separate the homes. Case has lived there for at least 25 years, public records show. He has at least one other dog, Altenbernd said, but that dog has never been a problem.

The second incident happened last December, again just after Altenbernd had driven into the yard and let GiGi out of the car. Altenbernd said he saw the attack unfold, but because he still had his seat belt on and couldn’t get it unbuckled fast enough, he laid on the horn and Tootsie took off, but it was too late.

The vet bill to repair GiGi’s back leg where it had been bitten was nearly $1,500.

Altenbernd, who moved into the family home not long after his mother passed away, said there were also several other times when Tootsie came into the yard and he yelled at her, causing her to break off her charge before she got to GiGi.

Response by authorities

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office report from the second attack said Case bemoaned that he might have to put Tootsie down. The report says the deputy informed Altenbernd of the option of having Case’s dog deemed dangerous, which would require him to carry insurance specifically for the dog.

But Altenbernd said the deputy seemed to be trying to dissuade him from taking action.

“He said something to the effect of, ‘You guys are neighbors, and folks seem to get along pretty well out here. How far do you want to rock the boat?’ Something like that,” Altenbernd said.

He ultimately told the Sheriff’s Office he didn’t want any action taken against Case or Tootsie, the report said. He told deputies he believed Case would do the right thing again and pay the veterinarian bill.

He said Case also left him a voicemail committing to keeping Tootsie on a leash or in a kennel. But by summer, Tootsie was running loose again, and Case declined to pay the vet bill, according to Altenbernd.

Attempts to reach Case for this story were unsuccessful.

A vet tech in Barnesville who treated GiGi after the second attack told Altenbernd he wouldn’t have been as patient or tolerant as Altenbernd was acting in the situation. Altenbernd said he now regrets having been so amenable.

The sheriff’s report noted Case suggested to deputies that Altenbernd’s dog had provoked his, prompting the attack.

“On all three occasions, the attack occurred over a hundred feet into our property, twice just seconds after we got home. What actions could our dog have to have taken to provoke yours from that distance that quickly?” Altenbernd said of the claim.

After the third attack, Case told Clay County deputies he hadn’t realized anyone was home at the Altenbernd house and that he ran over to try to retrieve Tootsie after he heard some yelling, but the attack already happened and Tootsie had run off. He acknowledged there were previous allegations of Tootsie attacking GiGi and that it had likely happened again.

“He admitted he felt bad about the situation and had been trying to do a good job ensuring that his dog did not go over to the neighbor’s property,” the Sheriff’s Office report said.

Minnesota law

Local criminal defense attorney Luke Heck of the Vogel Law Firm said Minnesota’s laws are among the toughest when a dog bites a person, but when a dog attacks another dog it’s more nebulous.

Heck said there might potentially be a small claims case to be made for the vet bills Altenbernd incurred as a result of the second and third attacks, but otherwise there isn’t much in the way of a legal remedy in the situation.

Clay County Sheriff Mark Empting said his deputies told Altenbernd that Tootsie could be deemed dangerous by Minnesota State Statute, but Altenbernd told them he “did not want to go that route” immediately after the second attack.

After Case refused to pay the vet bills, Altenbernd asked deputies to follow up with Case.

“In reviewing the reports that were provided to you, it appears both deputies took the information and forwarded it to the County Attorney’s Office for consideration of a Dangerous Dog violation. I am not sure where the County Attorney is at with the violation,” Empting told the Forum.

But Chief Assistant County Attorney Pamela Foss told The Forum she could not investigate a dangerous dog violation unless the dog had been previously registered as dangerous, which she said was a decision for the Sheriff’s Office and animal control.

She said there was no evidence Tootsie had ever been registered as a dangerous dog.

Even after the fatal attack, no official action has been taken against Case or Tootsie, despite Altenbernd’s requests. A resource officer told Altenbernd in mid-September that deputies followed up with Case about Tootsie the day after the attack, but Case informed them that he had given Tootsie away to someone he knew in Casselton, North Dakota.

Altenbernd contacted the Clay County Attorney’s Office about the attacks, and Foss told him the only possible charge in the case would be a petty misdemeanor, and that would only be brought if it could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Foss told The Forum this week that her office no longer had any jurisdiction in the case because the dog was moved out of Minnesota.

Justice for GiGi

In early November, Altenbernd submitted a claim to Case’s insurance, but he has not yet heard whether anything will come of it.

In the meantime, he said, he wants Case to bear some responsibility for his actions, or lack thereof. He said while one attack was an accident, and even two times was unfortunate but understandable, there was no excuse for a third, which to him felt like a “complete lack of respect.”

“Bottom line, this never should have happened,” Altenbernd said. “Any neighbor with any sense of civic responsibility wouldn’t have been content to let his dog run loose knowing it had that tendency. I could care less about the money now — everything’s already been paid for. But if you care about your dog and about your neighbors, you should be accountable when something like this happens or be held accountable if not.”

Ultimately, Altenbernd said, the loss of GiGi, the way it happened and Case’s lack of accountability for it are disappointing and disheartening. He said the only thing he was glad about was that his mom didn’t live to see this happen to her beloved dog.

“It would have been a devastating blow to her,” he said. “I don’t know if she would have recovered from it.”

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