Hegewisch Woman Furious After Someone Pepper-Sprayed Her Dogs Through The Fence
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Hegewisch homeowner had a warning for others Wednesday night, after her home security cameras caught someone pepper-spraying her dogs over the fence.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, the dog's owner believes it wasn't the first time it happened.
From the sidewalk, you can only see the dogs pacing, hear the barks, and read the "beware of dog" and "no trespassing: signs. Go on the other side of Melissa Ramirez's fence in the Hegewisch neighborhood, and you will meet two dogs named Apollo and Rex enjoying a day in the yard with Ramirez's 5-year-old daughter, Madeline.
"I heard the dogs bark, so I looked out my balcony window right there and didn't see anything," Ramirez said.
But when Ramirez recently looked at her security camera footage, she quickly saw why her dogs were barking.
"It's heart-wrenching that people are doing this out here," she said.
The video shows a person walking by the fence with their hand extended. Ramirez said that person is spraying the dogs with Mace through the fence.
It is the same area where Madeline often plays, but she wasn't out there on this day.
"You don't like a dog barking, so you just spray them in their own yard?" Ramirez said. "And then he kind of jumped and went over my fence with the item.
The man is then seen reaching his hand with the Mace over the fence, He then walks away.
Ramirez followed and confronted him.
"'What were you doing to my dog? Why were you doing this to my dog?' I said. 'I've seen you on my property doing something to my dogs,'" Ramirez said. "And he goes, 'Well, why does that dog always have to bark at me?' I said: 'Seriously? It's a dog. That's what they do.'"
The dogs are OK. But Ramirez fears this wasn't the first time, and wants this troubling video to serve as a warning.
"Rex, our 6-month-old puppy, he's been getting gooey eyes and red eyes at random I hope people think twice before doing this to animals when they're secure," Ramirez said.
In the video, a woman walks by moments after the incident, and Ramirez said she identified herself as the parent or guardian. Ramirez said she was extremely hostile. She said she has police report.
Meanwhile in another video circulating on Facebook, a poster claims a woman pepper-sprayed her dogs thru her fence on the Northwest Side. The dog's owner says she took both pups to the vet and filed a police report.