Just a Few Moments off the Leash Cost a Dog Its Life : Pets: A Tustin man says he and his two small dogs were being attacked before he fatally stabbed a German shepherd. The larger dog’s owner says there was no threat.

Police officers Wednesday warned owners to keep pets on leashes when they’re out walking, following the fatal stabbing of a dog by a Tustin man who said it attacked him and his pets, authorities said.

The Tustin man, whose name was withheld by police, was walking near Heritage Way and Myford Road with his two Maltese at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when a 2-year-old German shepherd mix approached them, Police Sgt. David Kreyling said.

The Maltese were on leashes and the 65-pound shepherd wasn’t, police said.

“The man and his smaller dogs were reportedly attacked,” Kreyling said. “He then stabbed her once in the hind quarter area.”

The dog, named Bonbon, walked a short distance and collapsed, police said. Bonbon was taken to a veterinary clinic, where she died from a stab wound in the hind leg and stomach. Police said the man had used a pocket knife.

The man did not report the incident but walked home and was later questioned by police. The district attorney’s office will determine whether to pursue animal cruelty charges against him, Kreyling said.

Romelia Madrigal, Bonbon’s owner, said the dog had not threatened anyone and that the man stabbed the dog for “apparently no reason.”

Madrigal, 32, also of Tustin, was walking Bonbon when she met a couple of friends and stopped to talk to them. She unleashed the dog during the conversation so that Bonbon could play with her friends’ dog, Madrigal said.

Bonbon then ran to the smaller dogs to “smell them,” Madrigal said. The dog did not snap at anybody, she said.

“The next thing I knew, she fell backward,” Madrigal said. “The man had stabbed her and then just coldly walked away.”

Madrigal’s friends told police they also saw the stabbing and that they did not see Bonbon attack the man or his pets.

The death devastated Madrigal, a program coordinator at Rancho Santiago College.

“I fell in love with her when I first saw her,” Madrigal said. “She was my family.”

Kreyling said police are approaching community groups to try to make people more aware of their responsibilities as pet owners.

“Had the larger dog been on a leash,” Kreyling said, “it is likely that this would not have occurred.”