Joliet Residents Tell of Vicious Dogs Terrorizing North Reed Street

Two pit bulls and a Rottweiler have run loose around Joliet’s North Reed Street and attacked at least four other dogs, viciously mauling one, residents said.

“Our fear is a child” will fall prey to the pack of dogs, said Doreen Swanson, who said her own two pets were beset by the hounds from Reed Street.

Swanson’s husband, Bob Swanson, was walking the couple’s two dogs, Jackson and Mack, about 10 p.m. Nov. 25 when the pit bulls and Rottweiler charged at them, he said.

“The three of them came rushing across,” Bob Swanson said. “The guy rushed out. He was yelling at his dogs. They weren’t paying attention to him. He was kicking at them.”

One of Bob Swanson’s dogs suffered puncture wounds and the other had scratches around its neck, he said, but they were “not as bad as poor Harley here.”

Harley is a shepherd-mix belonging to neighbor Sarah Tyrell. Harley had to undergo surgery and has two drains implanted in her body because of the Christmas Eve attack, Tyrell said. Harley is now too frightened to venture out to her own yard alone.

Another neighbor, Helene Heldorfer, also complained to the police about the Reed Street Rottweiler. Heldorder was walking her cairn terrier, Buffy, the morning of Sept. 22 when it emerged from a back yard and attacked, according to a police report.

“There were two visible puncture wounds on ‘Buffy,’ one between her front shoulder blades and one further on her back,” the report said.

The dog’s owner, identified in the report as Jaclyn Vavrik, 29, explained that she could not find a leash for her Rottweiler, Titan, so she let him “out in her backyard and he took off to the front yard and did bite ‘Buffy,’” police said. “Vavrik stated to (the officer) that she would pay the vet bills because they were at fault.”

Vavrik and her boyfriend, identified in a police report as Shane Vanakes, will have to appear at a city dog hearing, Tyrell and the Swansons said. Tyrell played a voicemail from Joliet police Detective Joe Clement in which the investigator said the hearing will be Jan. 27. Clement could not be reached for comment about the upcoming hearing.

Bob Swanson said the hearing could lead to various resolutions, including euthanizing the dogs.

“We don’t want that,” said Doreen Swanson, telling how she would prefer the owners of the dogs “just take care so people and other animals are not in danger.”

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