BOULDER, Colo. — A week after a miniature poodle was attacked and subsequently killed along a trail in Boulder, animal protection officers are searching for the person whose dog was responsible.
Jim Freedom wants those answers, too.
"Hopefully we can find him and his dog and ensure that that won't happen again," Freedom said. "I don't want anybody else to have this. It's, you know, it's quite shocking when you have your little dog ripped away like that. It hurts a lot."
Freedom's dog Amanda was a 15-year-old miniature poodle, who he adopted from his sister in May of 2023 shortly before she passed.
"She was very sweet, extremely sweet, and everybody in the neighborhood loved her," Freedom said. "She had arthritis and couldn't use her back right leg very much, but with a dietary change, massages, and walking her all the time... She was very happy and healthy. She got had a very good last 20 months in her life."
Boulder
Boulder police seeking dog owner whose off-leash dog killed toy poodle on Sunday
Amanda loved to walk along the Goose Creek Trail, a route she and Jim took daily. On Feb. 2, Jim let Amanda off leash for a short section of the walk near the creek. He was about to put her leash back on as they approached a nearby road, when Freedom said another dog came up behind them.
"Amanda was right behind me, and he just picked up and shook, shook Amanda, and I heard the screaming," Freedom recalled. "The other dog came around again, trying to come at Amanda and I just kept getting my body between them. And then I finally got Amanda up, even though she'd bit me several times. Soon as she realized it was me she was she calmed down, and the guy just took off running."
Freedom said the person with the other dog at the time just ran away without saying anything. The man in question was described as someone with dirty blonde shoulder length hair, and Freedom believes the dog was a larger, tan, poodle-type dog. Both Amanda and the other dog were off leash at the time of the attack.
"She had puncture wounds on both sides of her torso from the canine teeth. And then when the dog shook her, it ripped the skin away from the ribs, and so there was contusions, I was told — that's the word for bruises, basically," Freedom explained. "And they sewed up the puncture wounds and they put drains in, but it was just too much for her old body."
Freedom said he slept next to her on the floor that night, trying to calm her down. Amanda died the following day.
"Well, at first I had a lot of crying. I didn't realize how attached I was to her and how much, how important she had become," Freedom said. "She was very dedicated to me, so she was very comfortable with me and so it was... that was the best part of, you know, being able to be there for her."
Info Sought in Dog Attack
— Boulder Police Dept. (@boulderpolice) February 6, 2025
Boulder Police Animal Protection officers are asking for the public’s help to find the person whose dog attacked and killed another dog this week.
At approximately 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 2, a man was walking his 15-year-old toy poodle behind Unity… pic.twitter.com/t1KXKPjEl6
Freedom said he is sharing Amanda's story, hoping this does not happen to anyone else.
"That dog could do it again. And there are a lot of small dogs around here," Freedom said. "Hopefully we can find him and his dog and ensure that that won't happen again."
Anybody with information about this incident, or the suspect, is asked to contact the police department's animal protection unit at 303-441-1874.
In certain circumstances, Boulder allows dogs to be off leash within open space and mountain parks areas, as long as they are under voice and sight control. The Goose Creek Trail area is not on OSMP land, meaning all dogs along the pathway must be leashed.
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