On July 31, 2024, TikToker Ronnie (@ronnie_leah) was almost mauled to death by her dogs while she was seven months pregnant.
That day, she had just gotten home from the hospital to get an IV because she couldn’t keep any food or water down.
She planned to let the dogs out for about five minutes and then go take a nap. She has a black Doberman named Stormy, a red Doberman named Sugar, a German Shepherd named Nitro, and a mini Aussie named Chanel.
She was sitting in the backyard scrolling on her phone while her dogs played. She had just gotten up to tell Stormy to stop being so rough with Chanel when she saw Nitro snarling at her.
He then latched onto her arm and wouldn’t let go. He also grabbed her head in his jaws and slammed her up against the house. Sugar and Stormy started mauling her leg.
Chanel was trying to defend Ronnie while the other dogs attacked. Ronnie screamed for help and dragged herself back toward the house.
“As I’m crawling up the steps, Nitro grabbed me by my left ankle and pulled me down the steps, and he pulled my Achilles tendon right off the bone,” said Ronnie.
“It’s only by the grace of God that I got out of that. I felt like I was lifted up off those steps and into the house. I had three torn-up limbs, both my legs and my right arm.”
Somehow, she got herself inside the house. She realized that her phone was in the backyard, so she couldn’t call for help. Her only option was to go to the front porch, scream, and hope someone heard her.
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Her neighbor happened to be outside with a walking stick. He met up with her on the porch and held towels on her bleeding wounds until the ambulance and animal control arrived. He also let her use his phone to call her husband.
“What’s crazy about this is he told me he just felt like he needed to go outside, and he saved my life that day,” said Ronnie. “From there, I was immediately put into trauma surgery.”
Sadly, Nitro, Stormy, and Sugar had to be put down while she was in surgery. To this day, she still doesn’t know what provoked her dogs to become aggressive.
The best answer that the sheriff who arrived on the scene could come up with was that the dogs could smell she was pregnant, so they attacked her.
Many TikTok users shared similar stories, along with their theories as to what might’ve caused her dogs to attack.
“Sounds like they had pack mentality, and when you showed negative energy toward the one, they all went for you. Just like a pack of wolves going toward an animal. That’s why getting more than one dog that is high in pack mentality is not a good idea,” pointed out one user.
“It definitely was your scent change. My cat absolutely hated me for the first four months of my pregnancy. Used to wake me up sleeping by swiping my face, and then used to try to jump on my stomach. Then, after four months, he did a 180 and became extremely protective afterward. Followed me to the restroom and would guard it even after pregnancy,” wrote another.
“Can’t compare to a dog attack, but with my first pregnancy, I couldn’t go get my horse out of the field alone because another horse would charge me and kick at me every time. She never had before I was pregnant, and never did after. It’s so crazy how animals’ demeanor can change on us,” commented a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
