Dog’s Plight Spurs Outpouring of Support

A community repulsed has rallied behind a 5-year-old dachshund who was savagely beaten and stabbed during a daylight burglary of a Ventura home.

A Port Hueneme veterinarian has offered to treat the 20-pound pooch named Moxy for free and its owners have received dozens of calls from all ends of the county over the weekend. The callers have offered support and advice since the Friday tragedy.

“I just can’t believe people are so kind,” said Ed Pinsky, Moxy’s owner. “And I can’t believe that somebody could do something like that to our dog.”

Veterinarian Nino Garrolini of the Channel Islands Veterinary Hospital said Monday he has been unable to perform surgery on Moxy because of her poor condition.

“She’s still in guarded condition but looking better with each day,” Garrolini said. “I think she’s probably going to pull through, barring anything unforeseen.”

Moxy will probably lose an eye from the attack and its skull is badly fractured, Garrolini said. The dog was stabbed several times with an ice pick-like weapon and was beaten about the head.

Thirteen-year-old Leah Pinsky arrived home from school Friday about 4 p.m. to discover the family’s Dean Drive home ransacked and stained throughout with Moxy’s blood. But, police said, catching the violent thief or thieves is unlikely.

“Burglaries are typically difficult crimes to solve,” Ventura Police Detective Jeff Killion said. Killion, who owns a 2-year-old dachshund, said he “is taken aback” by this particular crime.

Pinsky said he takes solace in hoping that the burglar “will get caught and locked up for doing something else.”

Karen Garrolini said she pressed her husband into duty after reading about Moxy’s plight in The Times on Saturday and receiving a telephone call from one of her husband’s patients the same day.

The Pinskys--who own a small furniture store in Ventura--said they could not afford the needed surgery for Moxy and took her home from another veterinarian Friday night to care for her as best they could.

The bill would be $1,200 if he was charging for medical services, Garrolini said, and will probably go higher as Moxy remains hospitalized.