MICHIGAN -- Saline police say they're investigating two recent serious dog attacks in which one dog attacked another while owners were walking them in the city.
The most recent incident was reported last Thursday after a woman reported her dog was attacked and bitten by a stranger's dog in Mill Pond Park.
The woman said she was walking her basset hound in the park at 565 Bennett St. at about 6:30 p.m. when it approached another dog walking with a younger couple, according to reports. The other dog, which resembled a [Doberman Pinscher], attacked the woman’s dog as soon as the owners let her off her leash. It took several minutes to separate the animals, and the attacking dog’s owners left the park quickly.
The basset hound’s owner told police the dog was injured, but she felt the wounds weren't serious enough to require medical attention. She told officers she didn't wish to press charges, but wanted the owners warned not to unleash their pets in the park.
She didn't get the people’s names, but was able to describe the license plate of the vehicle they were in for officers. A notice was mailed to the vehicle’s owner regarding the city’s animal ordinance, and the case remains open pending contact with those individuals, reports said.
Officers are still trying to identify the owners of a dog that attacked a Saline woman’s dog as they were walking along the sidewalk in the 900 block of Colony Drive on Sept. 29, reports said.
The woman said she was taking her daily walk at about 4:45 p.m. when she saw a young girl, roughly 12 years old, walking toward them holding two dogs on leashes. The woman said she yielded the sidewalk to the larger dogs, which were able to pull the girl toward her and her golden retriever.
One of the dogs bit the woman’s dog, causing a wound that would later required sutures. They separated the dogs, and the girl left after giving the woman her cell phone number. The breed of the attacking dog wasn't known, but it was described as weighing roughly 75 pounds.
[Later news stories say it was a pit bull]
The woman said her dog was expected to recover, but she wanted the other dog’s owner to reimburse her for more than $400 in veterinarian bills, reports said.
The woman told police she called the girl’s cell phone and spoke with a woman who identified herself as the girl's mother. Upon explaining the situation, the woman said the girl’s mother abruptly hung up on her and has not returned multiple voicemail messages left since then.
Authorities were able to determine the girl’s cell phone service provider and faxed a subpoena to the company requesting the owner’s contact information, reports said. They are still awaiting results of the subpoena request.
Anyone with information is asked to call the department at 734-429-7911.
(AnnArbor.com - Oct 19, 2010)
