It takes a special kind of neighbor to beat off a pit bull attack

Quick. You're in your house, you hear a scream for help and look out front to see a woman and her dog under attack by two pit bulls.

What do you do?

Stay inside and call authorities? Rush out and try to beat the dogs away? Just stand and watch? (As unbelievable as it sounds, there was a man around who did exactly that while holding a shovel.)

But not Martha Swigart and Barbara Erickson.

Separately, these two North Las Vegas women tore out of their homes on Pilar Avenue, putting themselves in harm's way to help a stranger. Two brave women, one cowardly man.

Dedra Stockwell is calling both women heroes for saving her and Kenai, her 12-year-old Siberian husky.

"If you want to call me anything, call me a good neighbor," Martha said, embarrassed by Dedra's praise for both women's courage and compassion.

Dedra was walking Kenai about 9:15 a.m. on Jan. 13 in their neighborhood, Desert Horizons, not too far from West Cheyenne Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Suddenly, two male, unneutered pit bulls raced from around the corner and saw Kenai. One attacked her head; the other attacked her from behind. "I started screaming because they had her pinned immediately," said Dedra, 38. Kicking, screaming, she punched the other dogs with her bare hands, trying to defend her beloved Kenai.

Martha, 49, a mother of three, heard the noise and, without hesitating, rushed outside. Her weapon of choice? A recycling bin. Using the plastic bin, she tried to beat the pit bulls away. "The big one, I took by surprise, but he made me nervous because he was circling us."

Barbara, 60, was transplanting chives in her backyard and heard the screams getting louder and more urgent. She ran out and saw Martha hitting one dog with the bin, so she grabbed the other dog by the head and pulled him away.

Martha rushed Dedra and Kenai into her house -- one pit bull tried to come in as well -- then she went outside and used the hose on him. He ran away, and Barbara let the other pit bill go, too. The pit bulls tore down the street and found another woman and attacked her dachshund, who survived. Martha and Barbara weren't hurt, but Dedra's right hand was bleeding badly from 17 puncture wounds.

Her husband, Eric, first rushed Dedra to Valley Hospital and then took Kenai to Craig Road Animal Hospital, where she was in surgery for four to five hours. With Kenai's thick fur, it wasn't obvious at first how serious her wounds were, but the photos of her wounds are sickening to see and show the danger to both the husky and Dedra.

Meanwhile, North Las Vegas Animal Control officers captured the pit bulls. Their owner, Samuel Castillo, 30, has been cited with six criminal citations, two counts of dogs running at large, two counts of no dog licenses, two counts of failure to neuter. He agreed to allow the city to euthanize the pit bulls and made no statement about how they got out to run wild in a neighborhood where children are plentiful.

"It's very unusual to have anybody come out in a dogfight," North Las Vegas police spokeswoman Chrissie Coon said Tuesday after talking to animal officials. "Typically people stay inside the home and call. So accolades go out to the women who came out to help," she said, adding that Dedra's injuries would have been much worse without their help.

Martha's husband, James, is proud of her because she's an example for their three children about what you should do. "I was raised by the ultimate good Samaritan, my dad," Martha said. "I grew up in Utah stopping to help people."

Barbara, a former nurse, was raised in a military family. "I was always taught you do what you can do for other people to the best of your abilities." (She forgot to tell her husband about the incident.)

Fast and fearless, Martha Swigart and Barbara Erickson are the kind of neighbors you wish you could replicate a million times over.

The jerk with the shovel in his hand who just watched Dedra Stockwell struggle is another matter. No need to duplicate him.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison/.