 TEXAS CITY — A woman whose four pit bulls attacked and killed a family’s 10-year-old beagle in October is now suing the deceased dog’s owner for up to $1 million in damages, according to court documents. As far back as Brittany can remember, Bailey had been a beloved member of her family. But all of that changed Thursday when four pit bulls escaped from their yard in the 2900 block of Ninth Street North and slipped through a hole in her family’s back fence, attacking and killing the Baker’s 10-year-old dog. “Ten is pretty old for beagles,” said Steve Baker, Brittany’s dad. “She was just a little old lady.” 
 
 Brittany had just arrived home from school when she heard the yelping, screaming and barking from her backyard, she said. The yelping was coming from Bailey, the screaming from the dogs’ owner and the barking from the four other dogs, she said. She said the owner of the dogs next door has since repaired the hole in the fence they share and she does not hold a grudge. Baker and his wife were served Wednesday with the lawsuit, filed in the 405th District Court, at their home, the same place where their dog was “shaken like a rag doll” by their neighbor’s four pitbulls Oct. 27. Within minutes, Texas City police and animal control officers were in the Bakers’ backyard as the pit bull owner hustled to get her four dogs back on her property. “I had even replaced a few of his.” 
 
 Although his family has lived at this house for just a few months, Steve Baker said he had spoken with his neighbor before Thursday’s incident. Not long before the incident, Baker had worked to replace parts of the fence to be more secure and safe for his dog and family. Multiple calls made by The Daily News to White’s attorney, Paul LaValle, were not returned Friday. THE CITY SAYS THE OWNER NOW HAS 15 DAYS TO APPEAL THE 
 
 TEXAS CITY, Texas - 
 
 Four Texas City dogs are now considered dangerous after police say they attacked and killed a dog next door. BUT BY A CITY ORDINANCE, THE DOGS ARE NOW CONSIDERED DANGEROUS, WHICH MEANS THE OWNERS HAVE TO FOLLOW CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS POSTING A SIGN LIKE THIS ON THEIR FENCE. Randall Johnston of the Texas City Police Department. Texas City has a dangerous dog ordinance, which says a dog is deemed dangerous if: it inflicts severe injury or death to a person, kills a domestic animal without provocation while off the owner's property, or chases or approaches a person on the street in a menacing fashion. ONE OF THE THINGS IS THE DOG HAS TO REMAIN INSIDE AN ENCLOSURE. The dangerous dog ordinance requires the owners to obtain a secure enclosure that is at least 6 feet high with a mechanical locking device. Each of the dogs must be registered annually as a dangerous dog with the city, and the homeowners must post a sign in their yard alerting residents of their dangerous dogs. Those include: keeping the dog in an enclosed space, micro-chipping and tagging the dog, posting a sign on his or her premises warning there is a vicious animal on the property and showing the city animal control department a certificate of public liability insurance in the amount of $100,000. In Texas City, there are actually very few dogs that are registered as dangerous dogs, Johnston said. “The lady in the house tried to prevent this attack with everything she could,” Steve Baker said. Defenses include the following: if the animal was protecting or defending a person, the animal was injured and responding to pain, the animal was protecting her puppies, itself or its kennel mates, or the animal killed was at the time teasing, tormenting, abusing or assaulting the animal.
– Last month, Emerald White's four pit bulls got into a neighbor's yard and killed that Texas family's 10-year-old beagle. "Everyone was telling me to sue her, but I decided not to because it won't bring Bailey back," says Steve Baker, the beagle's owner. So imagine his surprise when he and his wife, Tiffany, were served with a $1 million lawsuit from White on Wednesday. In the lawsuit, White says that when she went into the Bakers' Texas City yard to get her dogs during the Oct. 27 incident, she was "unexpectedly and viciously attacked" and "seriously injured." She also accuses the Bakers of not keeping their dog in a secure enclosure, the Galveston County Daily News reports. White's dogs got into the Bakers' yard through a hole in the shared fence between their yards. But in an interview earlier this month, Baker told the Daily News that each homeowner is responsible for the fence slats that face his or her home, and that "I had replaced all the slats that were my responsibility. I had even replaced a few of [the neighbors']." Baker also now says that before Bailey was killed he tried to speak with the neighbors about fence repairs but got no response. In a report shortly after the attack, the Bakers' daughter told Click2Houston that their neighbor had repaired the fence after the attack. White's dogs were ultimately declared dangerous by the city; they are now required to be in a secure enclosure with a mechanical locking device.