VIRGINIA -- Paula Sydow said that as the neighbor's dog lunged for her throat, she threw her arms up in self-defense.
The defensive move prevented the dog from biting her throat. But the dog instead bit her face, and was hanging from her cheek before she was able to get free. Sydow needed six stitches after the November incident.
Sydow told the Daily Press that the neighbor's dog got loose, as it often did, and was in her back yard.
She was trying to put a leash on "Leo" and return the dog to her neighbor when she was bit.
Since last year, this dangerous-dog case in the Robinson Terrace neighborhood has wound its way through the courts. Newport News General District Court in January ruled that the dog, a dark-colored husky mix, was vicious and needed to be euthanized.
But the dog's owners, Nancy and James Bollman, appealed, and in April, Newport News Circuit Court Judge Timothy Fisher ruled in their favor. He deemed the dog "dangerous," which means that the Bollmans can keep it under strict conditions.
Sydow said neighbors had warned her when she moved into the neighborhood last year that the dog was known to bite. A lawsuit filed against the Bollmans earlier this year alleges that the dog bit an infant boy in 2007. That case is pending.
After being kept for five months at the Peninsula Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Leo was recently returned to its owners. Atiya Pope, Newport News Animal Control director, said the dog raised a "red flag" with animal services due to its history, and they classified the dog as vicious, which is similar to recommending euthanization.
But Nancy Bollman said Leo is not vicious.
"This dog will lick you to death," Bollman said. "This dog is like my child. I've been through hell trying to keep my dog."
Bollman said she has spent more than $10,000 complying with the court, including building six-foot fence and a pen in the back yard. The Bollmans are required to purchase a special "dangerous dog" license and keep the dog on a leash or in the pen. It must wear a muzzle at all times when it's outside and not in the pen.
Shannon Manning, Newport News assistant city attorney, said that because the dog is now labeled "dangerous," the Bollmans risk misdemeanor charges if it gets loose again and felony charges if it bites anyone else.
Bollman said Leo bit Sydow because the dog perceived that Sydow was a threat to her daughter. In the 2007 case, she said, the toddler provoked Leo with a stick and jumped on him, causing the dog to bite.
"I ran a day care in my house for nine years and never had any problems," Bollman said.
Sydow said the Bollmans told her that Leo had bitten their daughter, but Bollman told the Daily Press that it was only a "nip."
According to the 2012 lawsuit, filed on behalf of the boy, Christian L. Scheurer, and his mother, Kathy L. Sarvis, the infant suffered "bodily injuries, both permanent and nonpermanent in nature, which have affected the (boy's) health; disfigurement and/or deformity coupled with associated humiliation and embarrassment."
Manning said the lawsuit is pending and the facts are in dispute. The case was not reported to Animal Control when it occurred, Manning said.
Sydow said that she fears for children in the neighborhood, and she's seen open windows that the dog could easily jump out of.
"I have no doubt that the dog will get out again," Sydow said.
(Newport News Daily Press - June 4, 2012)
