Lancelot was a big part of Rebecca GoodinâÂÂs family – the 12-year-old dog was the familyâÂÂs protector while her son and three daughters were growing up.

Now Lancelot, a 100-pound brown Labrador retriever, is dead, the victim of a mauling by two pit bulls that jumped a fence into the Goodin familyâÂÂs back yard in eastern Lawrence.

It has Goodin wondering why people would keep such dogs as pets – and what might have happened if a child had been in their path Monday morning.

âÂÂI just think pit bulls are too dangerous to have in town where they can get out,â Goodin said Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, the two dogs apparently escaped from their home on Cadet Avenue and headed east across the cityâÂÂs Memorial Park Cemetery to the 1600 block of Harper Street.

About 11:30 a.m., neighbors saw them fighting in the Goodinsâ back yard with Lancelot. The Labrador was tied up to his dog house.

The neighbors chased the pit bulls away and contacted animal control officers, but it was too late.

Goodin said she was called about the dogâÂÂs injuries and raced home from her teaching job at Basehor-Linwood Middle School.

Lancelot was rushed to Bradley Animal Hospital. The dog had suffered numerous puncture wounds and was in shock. He died about three hours later.

âÂÂI have a 10-year-old (daughter), and we havenâÂÂt even told her thatâÂÂs how the dog died, because that would be too much for her to take,â Goodin said. She said her other daughters, age 13 and 16, âÂÂwere just devastated.âÂÂ

âÂÂMy 16-year-old daughter couldnâÂÂt even go to school today, because she had to sit with him for 20 minutes while heâÂÂs laying there, all chewed up and bleeding, while theyâÂÂre waiting for the animal control people to come and take him to the vet,â Goodin said.

GoodinâÂÂs mother, Patricia Edgerton, said such dogs were like loaded weapons.

âÂÂItâÂÂs just like having a gun in the house, having two killer dogs,â she said.

Sgt. Doug Bell of the Lawrence Police DepartmentâÂÂs animal control division said the two pit bulls were being held at Ise Memorial Shelter, which is run by the Lawrence Humane Society.

Bell said charges were pending against the dogsâ owners under the cityâÂÂs dangerous dog ordinance, but he declined to identify them.

âÂÂWe had trouble with these dogs before,â said Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society. She said the two pit bulls had been brought in twice by the cityâÂÂs animal control officer.

âÂÂOne time they were fighting each other and tore each other up pretty well,â she said.

For the Goodin family, the death was the second major blow this year. GoodinâÂÂs husband, Carl, 42, died of a heart attack in March.