There is still some visible scaring that needs to heal, but it's more of the invisible scars the family is worried about.
“I think the scars will heal,” said Tracy Tupper, Dakota’s mom. “Just more or less, the tragic part is going to be the hardest for him.”
Tupper thought last Friday was going to be a special day, but now she wishes it never happened.
“He said he was just riding his bike,” said Tupper. “Just riding it and the dog jumped up and drugged him off the bike.”
It was a new bike Dakota’s family gave him as an early birthday present. He was so excited Tupper said her son wanted to take his new set of wheels for a spin just down the driveway like Dakota had done many times before, but this time was different.
“He rode down the first time and came back up and road down the second time, and we were talking and my friend's son came up out of breath and he kept saying, ‘blood, Dakota, bike,’” said Tupper. “We really couldn't understand him and I was like, ‘Where is he?’”
The family said a pit bull they believe was a mixed breed attacked Dakota.
When I got down there, I saw him lying in a puddle of blood and the dog was latched to his neck,” said Tupper. “My first thought I thought was, ‘My son was dead.”
Tupper said it took a kick from her and a bite from the family pit bull, Kumar, to get the attacking dog away from her son.
Her fiancé Brian Callaway, ran down after her.
“I grabbed Dakota as quick as I could and made sure he talked to me the entire time until the ambulance got there,” said Callaway.
Doctors used more than 100 stitches and staples to reconstruct Dakota's ear, and wounds to his neck and head.
After four days in the hospital Dakota finally went home and less than a week after the attack all of the stitches and staples are gone, but now the hardest part may just be beginning.
“He's doing great,” said Tupper. “Still adjusting to everybody looking at his scars, trying to figure out if he's OK or what happened or if that's the little boy that got attacked. He heard a dog bark the other day and he started crying.”
But the family isn't giving up hope that he will soon make a full recovery one step at a time.
“He's a strong little boy for sure,” said Tupper. "He's not going to let anything stop him.”
The family said Dakota is healing nicely, but still has a little trouble holding his head up straight from the bite on his neck. The family said they're not sure if he'll need physical therapy down the road.
The pit bull that attacked the boy was put down.
FAMILY LYING TO POLICE ABOUT THE PIT BULL
The family says it was a stray pit bull that attacked their son. However, the Monroe county sheriff says he has enough evidence to believe the dog actually belonged to Dakota's family.
The sheriff says the family will receive five tickets in total, four for having two unlicensed and unvaccinated dogs and another citation for obstruction of the investigation.
The family does have the right to appeal the citations.
The executive director at the Coulee Region Humane Society said all too often pit bull bites are sensationalized.
"To be honest with you, any dog can be vicious,” said Heather Schmid, executive director of the Coulee Region Humane Society. “Any dog can be vicious and any dog can be loving and wonderful. There are bites across any breed, any size dog, and I think that the bigger the dog, clearly the more damage that can be done."
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| CLUELESS: Heather Schmid |
[Any dog can be vicious. Any dog can bite. Duh, we all know this. However, what's the point of burying your head in the politically-correct sand and not addressing the real issue - which is, that these types of dogs repeatedly are involved in these types of attacks. We're not having a rash of children being mauled by Sheltland Sheepdogs, Miniature Poodles, Pugs or Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Why not address it directly? Say, "If you own a dog like this (bully breed), it is your responsibility to understand and know this breed/type of dog." They can be very prey-driven, very animal-aggressive. And children on bicycles can appear to be PREY. And the nature of this type of dog is that when that light switch in their brain turns on and they go into attack mode, it can be almost impossible to turn it back off. This is why these dogs can be beaten with shovels, tasered and even shot without stopping their attack.]
(WKBT - May 11, 2012)
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