A Houston, Texas man, 69, died after he was viciously attacked by a neighbor’s dogs on Wednesday, February 1. He was trying to save his small pet poodle which was being attacked by the dogs.

One relative of the deceased man told reporters that her heart was torn apart after the neighbor’s dogs managed to get into the man’s backyard through a hole in the fence.

The man was inside his house when he heard his poodle crying in the backyard as it was being attacked by the bigger dogs. He went out to check on his pet and saw his neighbor’s dogs had found a hole in the fence and crawled into his backyard, and the two dogs were attacking his poodle.

The man pounced on one of the dogs to try and save his dog and separate the animals, but the neighbor’s dog turned and attacked him. The two dogs pushed him to the ground and bit and mauled him.

Houston Police Lt. Larry Crowson said a witness called the police, and when responding officers arrived, the man was still being attacked. Officers approached the dogs to try and save the man, but one of the dogs charged at them, prompting one officer to open fire.

The Houston Animal Shelter took custody of the two attacking dogs, both Staffordshire terrier mixes. However, the 69-year-old’s poodle had to be euthanized due to severe injuries.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office will decide whether to charge the animal owners.

Dog attacks in the US are fairly common. A seven-year-old boy was mauled to death by a pack of dogs in Idaho a week ago.

The boy was attacked while playing outside his trailer home in Fort Hall, Idaho. His mother found four dogs attacking him and tried to save him. She sustained serious injuries, but the boy was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Authorities put the dogs down and cited the owners for 15 animal ordinance violations.