SVENSEN – Ashlynn Dawn Anderson had four parents.

That’s the way Jay Browning, described the 4-year Svensen girl who was killed by a dog while staying at the Hillcrest Loop Road residence of her mother and step-father, D’ette and Jesse Browning.

Ashlynn was the daughter of Ryan Anderson. She spent half of each week at the home of Anderson and his girlfriend and the other half with his mother and stepfather.

“She was always friendly. She always had a smile,” Jay Browning said Monday. He is Jesse’s father and considers himself and his wife Sue to be Ashlynn’s grandparents.

“Jesse and D’ette got together when Ashlynn was a year old. We’re not her blood grandparents, but there’s a room in our house that’s Ashlynn’s room,” he said.

Jay Browning said Ashlynn was excited about a garden she and Jesse were planting and had just gone outside into the front yard for a couple of minutes when the attack happened.

“She had a little toy rake. She must have been raking little mole hills,” he said. “D’ette went out to check on her and she was just laying there bleeding. The female rottweiler was standing there.”

Jay Browning said both D’ette and Jesse liked big dogs.They had gotten rid of an agressive male rottweiler “a long time ago” and retained a male Labrador retriever and a male and female rottweiler.

He said the dogs were kept in a fenced backyard and it’s unclear how one of them had gotten into the front yard.

Jesse Browning called 9-1-1 from the family home for help at 1:03 p.m. Sunday.

Personnel from Knappa-Svensen Fire and Rescue and Medix Ambulance Service responded. As paramedics worked to save the little girl’s life, a Lifeflight helicopter was dispatched and was able to land in a field next to the family’s residence on Hillcrest Loop Road. Ashlynn was airlifted to Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Browning said the whole family is devastated. He said he broke down when he found out Ashlynn died at OHSU Hospital. “I’m a tough guy. I cried my eyes out. I’ve never cried before,” he said.

Jay Browning and his logging company were featured in the television series “Ax Men” on the History Channel, which brought his family into the public eye. He said that may be the reason so many people are making hurtful comments on the Internet about Ashlynn’s tragic death. “It’s so sad. So many people are saying so many cruel things,” Browning lamented.

“There appears to be nothing criminal in this event,” Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin said today. “This was a sad set of circumstances and a very unfortunate death.”

Bergin said Dr. Joanne Stefanelli, the county’s medical examiner, is involved in the investigation of the incident and an autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death. Clatsop County detectives will conduct a follow-up investigation after the family – Ryan Anderson and Jesse and D’ette Browning – have time to grieve.

Meanwhile, both rottweilers are quarantined at the county animal shelter, where they were taken after the incident Sunday by sheriff’s deputies.