To the shock of my brother Danny and myself, Mark came to the office today with something in hand that he said was for us. He said he saw it and just had to buy it. When we opened up the box both Danny and I were all choked up. It was a head stone for little "Gnocchi". That was a very sweet thing for you to do Mark and we will remember it forever. God bless you Mark. We are going to have it set with a little ceremony on Gnocchi's grave as soon as it is prepared for the stone.

Danny, Mario and Silvia

Danny, Silvia and I would like to thank all of the people that have offered their condolences for the passing away of our little pooch "Gnocchi". We will all miss him. I would also like to thank all the customers of Warehouse Foods also for all their sweet words and support. Most of them had the opportunity to meet him  as they came shopping at our Retail Outlet.

Mario P. De Luca

After submitting his report to the Humane Society today, both my brother and I were told by Ted (the District Manager) that the dogs that took Gnocchi's life will not be returning home. They will be impounded until the judge orders them to be put down.

Although my brother and I were somewhat relieved with the decision, it really wasn't something to be joyous about. Dogs are dogs and they do things differently that humans. They don't think like we do, they just act on instinct and unfortunately many times what they do either hurts or kills other things or people.

This coming Wednesday under D.O.L.A. (Dog Owners Liability Act) I will be filing charges against the owner of the black Labs in Provincial Court in Welland. We are confident that when we appear in court, the judge will request the dogs to be put down. Ted assured me that until that time the dogs will not be free to return home regardless of possible attempts of the owner to free them. They will not be able to hurt anyone or anything anymore. Being that next week school commences, Jennifer (who's statement helped seal the dogs fate) feared that if the dogs returned to Port Colborne, everyone would have to live in fear. In a phone call to her this afternoon, I assured her that Ted had given us his word, that the black Labs would not hurt again. This is not the end, but rather the beginning because now we have to fight for laws to stop other tragic situations like this happening again. Like I said to Ted this afternoon, my goal here is for The Gnocchi Law to be created so that dog owners that do not confine their dogs when there is a danger of them being aggressive towards others end up facing jail terms. This is a dream today but hopefully it will be reality tomorrow.
 

To Whom It May Concern:                              August 27th 2008

    I am writing this letter in regards to the two Black Labs in our area that run loose all the time. The dogs are described as black mixed labs with white on them. The male dog has white on his chest and face. The female dog is a bit smaller than the male and has not as much white on her. Their owner lives at the corner of Athoe and Bell St..

    I have had many run-ins with these dogs since my son was born 5 years ago. The two dogs and their owner Gary live two houses down from me on Bell St. I was outside on the front porch and I had my son in his stroller beside me. The two labs were running loose like they always do. The dogs came up on my front porch and cornered me and my 2 month old son. The dogs were staring us down, growling, teeth showing, and foaming at the mouth. All I could do is sit there and hope for the best. I yelled at the dogs and told them to go but the more I did that the madder they were getting. Finally a man who lived in the same house as the dogs came out and saw them. He told them to come and the dogs left. I then said to the man "You better tell Gary to keep his dogs on a leash". I came in the house and called the dog pound to make a complaint. These dogs are trouble and very dangerous. They are always running around loose and they always run together.

    I have also tried leaving my house and one dog was at the back door and the other dog was at the front door blocking me from leaving the house. I used to baby sit three children that lived across the road. They delivered papers in this area before school. I could recall at least three times where the kids would come running back to the house because the dogs were chasing them and they were scared. Also I have watched these two dogs attack a young boy and his dog (a Dalmatian) as they were walking by the house. Thank God somebody was driving by stopped and grabbed the boy and his dog, put them in his car and drove away. These dogs have also chased people into their vehicles and then chased the vehicles down the road. Also, a friend of mine who lives two doors down from me, his dog has to have her leg amputated due to another attack from these dogs and 2 other dogs were torn apart and killed.

    I have called the dog catcher over a dozen times and even he has a hard time catching them. He has caught them so there should be a record of it. Gary just goes and bails them out and lets them run loose again. It's bad enough that a little harmless dog had to be killed by the two dogs but what is going to happen if they get a hold of a child? Something needs to be done about these dogs because they are very dangerous and the owner Gary does not seem to care. Please do something about these dogs before someone really gets hurt or killed. On August 26th 2008 once again the black labs were running all night my husband saw them in the morning. I called the humane society to let them know the dogs are running. A short time after this,, at approximately 7:45 am, I heard this horrific scream. I looked out my window to see the black labs attacking a mans dog as he was walking buy the house. One dog grabbed one side of the dog and the other lab grabbed the other side of the dog and killed it, actually tearing it in two and then ran to the house they live at with the dead dog in it's mouth. The owner of the dog that was killed stood there not knowing what to do. Gary came out and put his dogs in the house as this man picked up his dog and put it in a plastic bag. A few minutes later the police showed up to deal with the situation. I have spoken with the police about these dogs and I have spoken with humane society on many occasions. The humane society puts the dogs in 10 day quarantine and Gary pays the fine and gets them back out to go tare up the neighbourhood again. I think it is high time for something to be done once and for all to these to dogs before a child gets hurt or even killed. School starts in one week and this area is covered in children. I would hate to see something happen to a child because of these vicious dogs. If something does not get done with these dogs I am going to be going to the paper in regards to this matter. What I had to see yesterday morning was horrific and I thank god my 2 children were not up to witness this. Please do something about these dogs. They are supposed to be muzzled and they never have a muzzle on and they are very rarely tied up. Obviously that didn't work so something else needs to be done. I am scared for my children's safety and other children's safety in this area.

Sincerely

Jennifer Foster 

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Jennifer..I cannot thank you enough for your letter along with Silvia and Danny. I feel so badly for Danny who enjoyed his walks with Gnocchi everyday and then had to watch this happen and not be able to do anything about it. That chunk of human waste Gary will one day wish that this never happened.

I have already called City Hall here in Port Colborne twice requesting to speak to Robert Heil who is the Chief Administrative Officer about the severity of this matter and I have not heard from him yet. I want to ask him who is responsible for looking after dangerous dogs that walk the streets of our City. 

I will keep you posted on the events as they happen Jennifer and I want you to know on record that The Leader has already interviewed us about this incident and the Welland Tribune will also be coming to write an article on it. Once again Jennifer..thank you for your support. 

My name is Danny De Luca, and I am a co-owner of a little Mini Yorkshire Terrier named Gnocchi.

Gnocchi and I have enjoyed walks throughout Port Colborne for the last six months.

On the morning of August 26, 2008, our walk ended in a horrific nightmare; an event so tragic that no one should ever be made to experience.

My little dog and I had walked down Bell Street many a time and I have never encountered these dogs. After walking east on the Friendship Trail my dog and I reached Elizabeth Street and started walking north. Between Johnston and Bell Street I stopped to talk to another fellow dog walker. Looking south on Elizabeth I could see two black dogs running astray. I continued north on Elizabeth Street and turned west on Bell Street.

As I approached 332 Bell Street, I saw the same two black dogs going north on Athoe Street, crossing Bell Street and onto the porch of house number 332 Bell Street.

I saw a person named Gary sitting in a chair on the porch of the above said residence with the two black stray dogs in question. I continued to walk west on Bell Street with plans to return to my house on Janet Street.

As I passed by the property of 332 Bell Street, I turning back to see if my dog was following me, to my horror I noticed that one of the black dogs had snatched little Gnocchi by his head. Then the second black dog quickly grabbed Gnocchi by the rear portion of his body.  At that point I screamed, in hopes that someone would hear me, especially Gary who was sitting in his chair on the porch and whom I assumed was the dogs owner.  However, Gary did nothing to help me protect my little Gnocchi. Moments later, Gnocchi was literally torn in half exposing his intestines, I knew at that point they had massacred my little dog.

I have since come to find out from the two Humane Society officers that these two dogs had a prior incident of attack and were supposed to be under a muzzle and leash restraining order. Well, if this was the case, and someone had bothered to properly enforce it, my dog would still be with us.

I, along with my brother and his associate have full intentions of making sure that this incident is taken to the courts. My conscience will not allow something like this to occur again. I trust that my report is satisfactory, and if there are any questions, please call my brother’s office at 905-835-1953.

Signed__________________________________________

           Danny J. De Luca

Mario sorry to hear about Gnocchi  it is total bullshit that u had to lose your dog because of some degenerate dog owner that is probably not even fit to take care of  themselves let alone a dog.  I hope you take action as far as you can against the owner of the dogs who did this.
Good luck and again sorry to hear this shit happened to such an awesome little dog.
Mike
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Thank you Mike for your kind words. You yourself being a dog owner know what it feels like to one day lose your best friend. We are going to fight this..right to the bitter end. We will make sure that Gnocchi did not give up his life without a reason.

Mario 
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Mario,
When I sent you the e-mail regarding the Lasagna I had no idea about what happened to Gnocchi.
My sister called last night and actually told Michael first. We are all very sorry to hear about what happened. That was a very tragic way to go, for any living being. The kids can't believe that black labs would be so vicious. I didn't think they were either.
I am so sick of pet owners who think that their dogs won't hurt anyone!! I can't tell you how many times I have gone for a walk and seen a big dog loose and was scared shitless and the owner is nowhere to be seen. I hope that these two dogs have been put down so they can't hurt anymore dogs and even worse children!!
Our best to you guys,

Manuela
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Thank you and your family Manuela for the e-mail. It helps us to know that others feel the pain we feel and that others care as we do.
 
Mario
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Danny, Silvia and I would like to thank Albert & Stacey from Mercury Ave. for sending over via Tony a beautiful sympathy card for Gnocchi. We were deeply touched. Bless you both.

Late this afternoon, I needed to get out of the office for a bit, so I decided to drive by the house where my Gnocchi gave up his life for the incapability of a sub standard human being to look after his black Lab cross dogs. As I drove by 332 Bell Street, I slowed down to get a good look at the dump that people have the courage to call a house and I saw a human piece of waste standing on the porch drinking a bottle of beer. I said to myself....God will pass judgement on that thing! and drove away.

Mario