The Watson family now has two dogs, Pete and Sasha, guarding their home, but they still mss their two Labs Robie and Scrappy.
Five-year-old Nikita Lockhart says, "I remember that I used to rub them and they used to be sweet to me."
Last month, a fox jumped into the dog pen in the Watsons' backyard and attacked both Labs. After a fight that seemed like an eternity to Mattie Watson, her neighbor separated the animals and killed the fox.
Watson says they usually see wild animals roam through their yard, but none ever get close to the house.
"How he got in the pen, I don't know, because the pen is all closed up," she says.
When she called her veterinarian, he gave the family two options.
"He said that we would have to put them up for six months and do a lot of quarantine and all that stuff and it would be expensive," says Watson. "So, I told them that we couldn't afford that so we would just go on and just have to have them put to sleep."
The Watsons will always remember Robie and Scrappy, but now they say they'll take more caution around wild animals and make sure Pete and Sasha stay up to date on their rabies shots.
The Centers for Disease Control encourages people to call their veterinarian or local health department if their animal is attacked.
They also recommend getting animals vaccinated once a year to prevent rabies.