Owner agrees to euthanize dog 3 months after it attacked 4-year-old neighbor
A Chester County woman agreed to have her dog put down on Thursday to settle an attack on her neighbor’s small child that happened back in November of 2025.
“The dogs got out of our neighbor’s house. One ran at the fence and climbed the fence and bolted for my four year old. Knocked him over, grabbed him by the mouth at the top of his arm and shook him across the ground,” Whitley Coggins said.
Coggins told NBC10 that her son is still terrified of his neighbor’s dogs almost three months after he was attacked by one of them.
Chief Brazunas said that this is not the first biting incident this dog was involved in, but this was serious enough to charge the owner.
“This neighborhood has been dealing with issues with the dogs at this residence since 2022,” Downingtown Police Department Chief Brendan Brazunas said.
On Feb. 5, the dog’s owner agreed to have the dog taken to the SPCA to be euthanized which ends the criminal case.
Now, the boy’s family plans to take civil action against the owner.
The family is relieved they no longer have to worry about that specific dog but the neighbor owns three more so they say they’re still not going to feel totally safe when they walk outside their house.
“The both of them scream when we are walking from our front door to the car,” Coggins said. “They ask me and daddy to make sure they have bats and make sure the front door is closed to the neighbor’s house.”
Through her lawyer in court, the owner of the dogs offered an apology to her neighbors.
She still faces other citations for other problems with the other dogs that she owns.
The judge in this case warned the owner to do a better job keeping her dogs under control, but Coggins told NBC10 that doesn’t came her nerves even a little bit.
“I’m gonna leave here and drive to my home and get my kids out of my car and still have to watch her front door. This doesn’t fix our problem, it’s a step in the direction we needed to go in but the dogs need to go,” she said.
