MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A veteran says he was stabbed, beaten and robbed all while trying to get his service dog back, but now fears for the worst.

Michael Chaney just wants his pitbull “Scrappy” back.

“He’s part of the family,” Chaney said.

Chaney an Iraq war veteran says the service dog helps him deal with his PTSD and alerts people if he’s having a seizure.

“It get me out in places I normally won’t go such as the mall,” Chaney said.

Three weeks ago Scrappy got out and disappeared.

Chaney says he spotted him with a man two days ago under the overpass at Germantown Parkway and Walnut Grove.

“I rolled the window down, Scrappy sit! Immediately he sat. Scrappy forward! He went to come forward and the man jerked him back,” Chaney said.

Chaney says the man pulled a knife and started stabbing him as he tried to take his dog back. A fight ensued.

Chaney says it wasn’t long before two more men jumped in on the fight and started hitting him with things like metal pipes.

“Next thing I know I got three on one,” Chaney said. “My dog started biting. He was trying to protect me.”

Outnumbered three to one Cheney lost the fight. He says the men took his cell phone before driving off with Scrappy.

“When my dog left he had no scars on him. now he has four or five scars on his face,” Chaney said. “In three weeks they beat the [expletive] out of this dog.”

Police tracked the suspects down and arrested Steven Duggan and Richard Rier. Both are charged with aggravated robbery.

The dog was turned over to Memphis Animal Services where Chaney fears he’ll be put down after biting the suspects.

“Pitbulls are pitbulls in a lot of peoples’ eyes. once they bite they get put down,” Chaney said. “It’d be more than unfair. It would rank up there with someone taking one of my kids.”

A man in need of his faithful companion more than ever but worried he’ll never see him again.

Thankfully, Memphis Animal Services says that Scrappy should be fine.

A spokeswoman tells us he is under a ten day rabies quarantine, but based on the information they have, the dog is not in danger of being put down.

She also says Chaney can pick Scrappy up after that ten day window has passed. All he has to do is provide proof of ownership.