However, it apparently didn't sink in for someone in Huntington.
Claire Horton, 83, returned from the hospital Friday evening.
"She's been through a lot of pain this week," her husband Wayne Horton said.
On Easter Sunday, a woman who neighbors say appeared to be in her 30s was walking her dog along 11th Avenue and 9th Street when the dog got into Claire's flower garden.
"Her flowers are her babies," Wayne said.
Claire asked the woman to get the dog out of the garden, but didn't get the response she expected.
"She walked up and knocked me down and said ‘I hate you,’ and I was lying there, and I knew I'd broken my arm," Claire said. "I don't quite understand what was her problem."
"For someone to come here and attack us, it's just unheard of,” Wayne said.
Neighbor Betty Cummings says she saw it all happen.
“They shouldn't have to worry about a dog being in their garden or anybody hurting them," Cummings said.
Cummings says she started following the suspect so police would be able to find her, but then she was threatened.
"She said she'd sick [sic] her dog on me,” Cummings said. “I said, ‘If you sick [sic] that dog on me, it's going to be a dead dog.’"
This week Claire has had two surgeries and was just able to get back on her feet Friday, and she just hopes the woman and her dog steer clear of her garden in the future.
"I would feel better if I don't have to see her,” she said. “I'm a bit apprehensive about running into her again."
Huntington Police Detective Rob Stinnett says they're investigating the case. No arrests have been made. The Hortons described the dog as a "big, brown mongrel."
(WSAZ - April 14, 2012)
