It's a Crime

Mia, Daisy and I were attacked by a German Shepherd in the front yard of a home by which we were passing during our early morning walk Sunday. The dog came at us from behind, chomping Mia’s haunch in its huge jaws and pinning her to the ground.

When Daisy went into attack mode to protect us, the dog dropped Mia’s haunch, clamped its jaws onto Daisy's neck, and began to take her toward the front porch, pulling me to the ground knees-first in the process. What saved Daisy was her sweatshirt, which the dog held onto rather than Daisy’s neck. As I scrambled to get Daisy free, hitting the German Shepherd repeatedly with a strong stick I carry and screaming at the top of my lungs, Mia was still on the ground where the dog had left her. Thankfully, a man from across the street ran to the property to distract the Shepherd, who dropped Daisy before he got all the way to the porch. I grabbed Daisy and Mia's leash and we took off down the street. A woman watching the scene yelled to ask if we were okay, but I just wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as I could, so yelled back, “I don’t know” and kept running toward the corner.

When we arrived back home, I saw the gaping wound in Mia’s haunch, examined it, and decided that I’d better take her to a vet because I didn’t know if the attacking dog had shots or a disease. After calling 5 facilities and getting the same referral to an emergency vet hospital down Valley, I called and said we were on our way. Thankfully, Daisy was okay, shaken up and trembling, but not injured, so she crawled into her canvas casita and stayed home while Mia and I drove the 40 miles to the pet ER. Yes, I was shocked almost speechless when the low estimate for services was $1000, but the high estimate was $1400. I could not risk my dog’s welfare by refusing the necessary treatment for her injury, so I pulled out a credit card when they would not examine Mia without the low estimate paid in full. I did, however, write onto the estimate that I would not pay more than a total of one thousand dollars, so they would have to adjust their services accordingly, to which the vet agreed, and Mia went off to the ER and I headed back home to wait.

I called the local police dispatch to report the attack when I got back home, but the lukewarm response let me know it’s no big deal. He could take a report if I wanted, but I really needed to call Animal Control as it isn’t a police matter, especially since I was vague on the details, such as whose dog it was that attacked us. Realizing it would do me no good to argue, I drove back to scene, took down addresses, and walked across the street to the front door of the house where the woman had been and from which I believe the man who ran across the street also had come. I assured them that I don’t want to get anyone into trouble, but I want to know whose dog it is so I can inform Animal Control, the agency that can make the owners keep it contained. The woman told me that she’s seen the dog in the front yard at the house across the street where we were attacked.

Monday morning, I called Animal Control and left the details, including my contact info. Sure enough, I got a call from the AC officer “investigating” the case, but he was at a standstill because he visited the house and talked to the residents. He toured a fenced yard with a large permanent kennel and told me that he’s sure the dogs there could not get out of their surroundings.

When he questioned me, he indicated that there really was not enough “evidence” to support my accusations because I didn’t know definitively whether it was a German Shepherd (even though I clarified that I knew for certain that it was a German Shepherd), whether it was male or female, whether it had long or short fur, the pattern of dark/light fur, how much it weighed (although I said it seemed to be a bit bigger than Mia, who weighs 80 pounds), and/or whether it came from that property or somewhere else because it came from behind us.

At that point, I stopped him and asked if he had ever been attacked by a large dog, to which he admitted he has. I asked if he had taken the time during his fight for life to note the genitalia of the animal attacking him, which got a slight smile and a more sympathetic ear. He admitted that the residents have 2 German Shepherds, a male (about the size of Mia) and a female (who is a bit bigger than Mia), but they assured him that their dogs never get out of the yard surrounded with a 5’ wooden fence. Well, I argued back, that fence would be nothing for a determined German Shepherd to clear with a running jump, so unless they keep the dogs kenneled, I’m sticking with my story that it’s one of their dogs that attacked us.

That’s when he also admitted that the residents weren’t home Sunday, so they have no idea whether their dogs were behind the fence or in the front yard attacking me and my 2 dogs as we walked by the house. I, however, have physical evidence of my knee injuries, as well as my dog’s injury and vet bill, and a witness to the attack who has also observed the same dogs in the front yard on many occasions. Thus, the preponderance of the evidence indicates that … it’s those dogs at that house. I asked the AC office to DO SOMETHING because next time it could be a child that dog attacks. Had I not been able to beat off the dog with the stick I carried, I doubt that I could have saved either Daisy or myself; a child would not stand a chance against the ferocity of the attack we were subjected to by this dog.

And that’s the crime, that the owners will lie to protect themselves, rather than be concerned with what their dogs could do to another person or pet walking by their home on a Sunday morning.