AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) — Chante Wright-Haywood thought she saw a neighborhood kid out of the corner of her eye approaching her toddler CJ as they headed out the door to daycare and work.
She quickly realized this wasn’t the case, as she heard her son scream and fall to the ground.
It was a horrific moment as a random dog pounced on her 2-year-old in the Austin Colony neighborhood in east Austin.
The incident was captured on their doorbell camera.
In the video, you hear Wright-Haywood screaming, as she fought off the dog and ran her child back toward their home as he, too, screamed and cried.
The dog wouldn’t leave them alone.
“Open the door!” you hear Wright-Haywood scream on the video.
The stray shattered a plant pot, jumped up toward them and even snapped at Wright-Haywood, snatching her coffee cup as she continued to kick the dog.
“No!” you hear her yell.
When she finally got her son inside to safety, the fight wasn’t over.
“You can hear like that snapping, trying to get to him [my son],” she said. “My daughter was able to open the door, and I just kind of pushed him in… the dog was trying to get into the house.”
The dog clawed at the door from the outside.
“The dog actually broke the door hinges off of the frame of the door,” Wright-Haywood said. “Me and the kids were putting all our body weight on the door to hold the door close to keep the dog out while I’m calling police and EMS to come.”
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CJ walked away with a small bite. Wright-Haywood said she and other people who live in Austin Colony are worried for their safety with leash-less dogs and strays wandering the area often.
“We have an issue with people just coming in dropping dogs off. They don’t want the dog anymore,” Wright-Haywood said.
CJ is better now but shaken up a day after celebrating his second birthday.
His mom hopes they never have to go through this again.
“I really just want people to take responsibility for their animals,” Wright-Haywood said.
According to Wright-Haywood, Animal Control did show up after the attack and took the dog into its custody.
KXAN reached out to Travis County. There’s still no word on whether it belonged to someone or had any sort of disease.