In the first incident, animal control officers were called to a home on Auburn Drive off Euclid Avenue at 11:30 a.m. by an emergency crew attending to the girl, Lt. Dan DeSousa of the county’s Department of Animal Control Services said.
The girl had been at the house playing with the daughter of the dog’s owner when the animal, chained outside, attacked her, DeSousa said.
The startled child then threw candy at the dog and it broke free and bit her again on the arm.
The owner was bit in the hand as he intervened, and his daughter also suffered a minor bite to the right shoulder, DeSousa said.
The 4-year-old dog, a 65 pound male named Cass, was taken to the Gaines Street animal shelter where it was to be tested for rabies and be quarantined for 10 days, he said. The department’s investigation will determin if the dog will be returned to the owner or euthanized, DeSousa said.
Factors that will be considered include how many times the dog has bitten before, the severity of the injuries it inflicted and how responsible the owner is, he said.
Officers were told conflicting stories as to how the dog had come to live with the family. The owner told animal control officers he only had the animal for four or five days. The person who he said he got the dog from disavowed any knowledge of it, DeSousa said.
DeSousa said it is against state law to keep an animal chained to a stationary object more than three hours a day. He said an animal that cannot flee when scared or confronted will attack because that is its only option.
“You can take a good dog and make it bad by chaining it, and take a bad dog and make it even worse,” DeSousa said.
The second dog attack was reported about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
The victim said he was on 39th Street near Thorn Street when he was bitten on the arm by a pit bull that was running loose. He described the animal as “mostly black with a little white,” DeSousa said.
He did not know if the dog was male or female. Animal control officers searched the area but did not find it.
Officers will patrol the area for the next 10 days to see if they can locate the dog, DeSousa said.
(Sign on San Diego - August 29, 2011)
