WATERLOO - A Waterloo resident watched in horror as a pit bull killed his wife's toy poodle after breaking through his backyard fence Tuesday night.

Now Nathan Merrill, who tried to fight off the intruding dog with a rake, wants the attack to be a wake-up call for pet owners.

He said people who keep potentially dangerous dogs should take extra precautions to make sure they don't get loose.?

"I'm not the kind of person that wants to go after a breed," said Merrill. "Owners of those kinds of dogs should have strict control."?

He worries what could happen if loose dogs go after a child or a person instead of another dog.?

The owners live six of seven blocks away from Merrill's West Second Street home. He doesn't know them and has never had problems with them before, he said.

The Courier wasn't able to confirm the identity of the owners as of press time.

Merrill has a 6-foot wooden fence that the pit bull and a smaller puppy broke through.?

"It chewed right through it," he said. "They sure made a big hole in it."?

He had just let the poodle, named Tobi, and their shih tzu outside around 9 p.m. Tuesday and was watching the New Hampshire primary results on TV when he heard barking.?

At first he thought his dogs found an opossum, but then he shined a flashlight in their direction and saw the attack.?

"I took a rake and beat on it," he said. The larger pit bull then turned on him.?

With Tobi already dead, he grabbed the shih tzu and retreated to call police.?

The attackers fled with Tobi, but they were later found. Merrill said Tobi's body hasn't been found.

Merrill said the owners of the pit bull and the puppy were cited by Animal Control for having dogs at large and for going after him when he came to the aid of Tobi.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.