"Every time I close my eyes I see the attack over and over again and again," Kelly Diemer said.
Diemer can barely walk a day after a neighbor's dog viciously attacked her.
"He took a chunk out of my leg," Diemer said. "I have maybe ten or 15 holes all over my body. Some of the wounds are so bad that they couldn't stitch them."
Diemer said a German Shepherd was wrapped around its chain next door and she was working to get it untangled. That's when she says a Pit Bull came out of nowhere and pinned her to the ground.
She says the attack lasted for three or four minutes, but she was afraid she wouldn't make it out.
"So I just fought," she said. "I hit it with my purse. I flung my shoe off, and then my boyfriend ran out and saved my life."
This is not Diemer's first run in with the dog. Last week she says he killed her cat. She has no intention of suing the pit bull's owner, but says she just wants them to take responsibility.
Diemer is now using a crutch to get around, making it a little more difficult to take care of her 17-month-old son.
According to the Brunswick County's Deputy Health Director Fred Michael, the health director can deem a dog dangerous and then put it down only after the owner is given two chances to appeal the ruler.
If a dog bites someone, Michael said its owner can pay a fine and pick up the canine after ten days otherwise it will be put down. Diemer doesn't believe the owner should be allowed to pick up their dog if it attacks someone.
"I think that if the dog has been shown to be aggressive, then it should automatically be put down," Diemer said.
"They take it too lightly," said Diemer. "I mean, why should a dog be able to continue to live after it attacks a person that bad?"
She says she hopes she never has to see that dog again.
"It's going to be a constant reminder every time I look at my body because I'll have scars for the rest of my life," said Diemer.
Diemer says she hopes her attack will show other pit bull owners just how aggressive the dogs can be.
"What about the next time?" she said. "The next time somebody else might not be so lucky."
The owner says she feels awful about what happened and has no idea how the dog got out. After Diemer's cat was killed, Irma Negrete had planned to give the dog away, but after Sunday's attack, she says [they're planning on leaving the dog at the shelter so] the pit bull will be put down.
"I love the dog, but I can't keep it," Negrete said. "I don't want to keep it. I see what it did and what it is capable of."
Brunswick County Animal Control has cited the dog's owner failure to vaccinate, failure to wear tags and public nuisance and fined her $400.
(WWAY - Nov 21, 2011)
