80 year old Virginia Whitaker suffered a serious bite wound to her upper left arm and a deep scratch to her right forearm, while trying to protect her 5 year old toy poodle, Molly.
Whitaker's injuries might have been worse had it not been for a local handyman and another neighbor who came to her rescue.
Whitaker, who lives in Louisiana part of the year, was returning to her Sylvan Ridge home around 12:45 p.m., when she says a neighbor's dog jumped through a fence and went after Molly.
"He was coming through that fence straight at her."
She immediately grabbed Molly, who was on a leash.
"I was holding on with all my might and screaming as loud as I could," explained Whitaker, who said two other dogs that belong to the same neighbor also jumped through the fence but did not attack her.
"I heard her scream first. I was the first one there," said Chris Pappas, a carpenter who was doing some work at a nearby home. "I ran down here, with a rock, screaming."
Pappas said he and another neighbor, Kris Shunta, who also heard Whitaker's screams, managed to stop the attack, but not before Whitaker and Molly had both been bitten by the dog.
"He actually grabbed [Molly] twice, but I got her back," Whitaker said.
Pappas described the dogs as scottish terriers.
According to Whitaker and Pappas several minutes passed before the dog's owner came out of her home and realized what had happened.
"She came out and she said 'It won't bite, it won't bite' and I'm standing there screaming with all of the people around me with blood on me," Whitaker said.
Whitaker refused medical attention, but said she was checked out by her son, who is a doctor.
Middlefield animal control officer Dave Chowaniec is investigating the incident.
"Under state statute ... the [attacking] dog has to be quarintined for 14-days," he said, shortly before speaking with the neighbor.
"The worst thing that really frightened me is the fact that I'm 80," said Whitaker who walks Molly at least once a day. "I'm not real steady on my feet and the dog could have knocked me over and that would have been bad."
Whitaker says it makes her feel good to know her neighbors are willing to help.
"She's a very strong lady," said Pappas.
(Durham Patch - Sept 27, 2011)
