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Family “living in a little bit of fear” after dog threatened

Anonymous threat to kill dog unless quieted reported to police
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Trish Talarico found this message on her vehicle windshield Tuesday morning threatening to kill her dog if she does not

A Grandin family is living in fear, after receiving a mysterious brown envelope with a message scrawled across it threatening their family pet.

Trish Talarico was leaving for work on Tuesday when she found the envelope on her vehicle windshield. In big black scrawling letters, it said: “Shut your dog up or we’ll kill it. Were all tired of your dog” (sic).

“It was disturbing and a bit shocking, actually,” Talarico said. “First, for anyone to be obviously really, really angry – or angry enough – their action would be to harm or to kill.”

Having two young children under the age of seven adds to the anxiety, and Talarico said she is worried her children might get caught in the crossfire if the anonymous person decides to act on their threat.

“Now I’m worried my children might come into contact with something. Now we are one high alert,” she said. “I’m checking my yard before I let my dog and my kids out. We are living in a little bit of fear.”

The dog in question is an 11-year-old mixed breed dog named George that is part shepherd and husky.

A couple of years ago, the family received a complaint about George barking, but ever since then Talarico said they have been extremely cognizant of being respectful of neighbours. That includes ensuring George is not outside unless someone is at home.

She added she does not think George barks any more than an average dog.

“He might bark when someone walks by, but we usually correct him or it stops right away. So nothing really that I feel (is) unusual,” Talarico said.

A post on the Grandin Facebook page garnered nearly 100 messages in support of the family, and some commenters noted they live within a few houses of Talarico and have never had any issues.

Talarico said she has reported the threat to police, who told her there are grounds for criminal charges to be laid, if the family can figure out who left the note.

“We haven’t yet decided if that’s the route we will go. I’m hoping that maybe ... the person will try and reach out and let me know what the actions are I need to take.”

"We all have to live in this community together," she added, and she would much rather the message-leaver reach out – even anonymously – so the situation can be rectified.

Const. Trung Tran confirmed to the Gazette a complaint has been filed about the threat and said if the suspect can be identified, criminal charges could be laid. No suspects have been identified at this time, he added.

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