It was a dog bite that left teeth marks on her face and the girl needing stitches and possibly dental work. But despite what happened to her, she still has high spirits.
“He opened his mouth and he started biting me,” said 5-year-old Nevaeh Doyle as she recalls the attack.
Her mom, Melissa, can't get the horrifying images out of her head.
“There was so much blood everywhere,” said Melissa Doyle, Nevaeh’s mom. “I’ve never seen so much blood in my entire life.”
It all happened Sunday when the family went to visit an old friend they hadn't seen in several months in Taylorsville, Spencer County. They knocked on the front door and thought they heard their friend tell them to come inside. Nevaeh and her mom opened the door but did not know a new pit bull was in the home. They say the dog, unprovoked, attacked Nevaeh.
“I couldn’t see the dog,” said Nevaeh. “I was nervous. And I didn’t know they had a new dog.”
“I’m trying to deal with it myself because I think about if there was something else that I could have done different to protect her that day,” said Melissa. “But I couldn’t get the dog off of her. I couldn’t get the dog off. It just wouldn’t stop.”
After the dog's owner pried it off of Nevaeh's face, Nevaeh was rushed by ambulance to Kosair Children's Hospital where doctors put in more than fifty stitches. Her mom says she might also need dental surgery.
Since the attack, Melissa is now working to get a new law in Kentucky. She is petitioning to force owners of potentially dangerous dogs to have licenses for them.
“They’re not going to kill the dog,” said Melissa. “They gave them a choice and they are not going to destroy the dog. And that’s where we want to see a difference.”
The Spencer County sheriff says the county did not take the dog because when he was at the home of the dog because he didn’t feel threatened by it. Also, the attack happened in the home and not on public property.
As for Melissa, she says she and her daughter don't plan on visiting her old friend anytime soon.
(WHAS - June 24, 2011)
