Lori Mushanski knew something was wrong the minute she pulled into her driveway after work Wednesday.
Her grandson Cameron, who she affectionately referred to as Cammie, didn’t come running to greet her like he normally did.
Mushanski thought he was in the house but then her husband asked her where he was.
“I went outside looking and I seen him and I ran back in the house and I screamed that they killed my son,” she told Gormley on Friday.
“I’ll never get that picture out of my head.”
“They” were Mushanski’s two Alaskan Malamutes. She said she called 911 while her husband ran to the dogs’ pen.
She said the dogs were in their pen at the time of the attack and her grandson knew not to go near them.
“He’s never gone near them. I don’t know what possessed him to do it this time,” she said.
Mushanski said she and her husband got custody of Cameron when he was two months old and he had grown up around dogs ever since.
She said Cameron’s own dog, a pug, had died recently. They were supposed to go shopping for an urn Saturday.
“We’re completely devastated,” she said.
‘We love animals:’ Grandparents tried to re-home dogs ahead of tragedy
Mushanski said she and her husband owned the dogs for two years but had been trying unsuccessfully to find a new home for them.
Alaskan Malamutes are related to Siberian Huskies, but are a distinct breed that are typically taller and heavier. Breed information from the Canadian Kennel Club states that adult males typically stand 64 cm tall at the shoulder and weigh about 38.5 kilograms.
Mushanski said the dogs were larger than she and her husband anticipated and keeping them had grown to be too much.
She said the dogs were aggressive with other animals, once killing a fox that had gotten into their pen, but had never bitten a person since they owned them.
“We love animals,” Mushanski said. “We didn’t want to see them euthanized so we wanted to see them go somewhere where they could live out their lives.”
The Regina Humane Society told 980 CJME the Mushanskis gave the dogs up willingly following the fatal attack on their grandson. Both animals were put down.
Mushanski repeated that Cameron knew not to go near the dogs.
“I don’t know what possessed him to do it,” she said again, before adding: “Hug your kids because you don’t know when it’ll be the last time you get to.”