The little girl is still recovering after she was mauled in March 2012, and the Channel 4 I-Team has learned animal control was called to the dog owner's house several times before the attack.
Taylor Anderson is now 6 years old, but she hasn't forgotten about the attack that was so vicious she suffered puncture wounds to her face and stomach.
"It was something you just don't want to go through," said the child's father, Brandon Anderson. "It was just terrifying."
Brandon Anderson said Taylor was at her great-grandparents' house in Clarksville when she went to a neighboring home on Hilldale Lane to play with the family's two children.
According to the neighbors, their pit bull-German shepherd mix broke out of his pen and attacked Taylor as she climbed up on the trampoline.
"Within three minutes, she came tearing through the back door," Brandon Anderson said. "Her face was just horrifying. It was horrifying. Her hands were just covered in blood, and the whole left side of her face was just covered in blood. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen."
Taylor will likely have to have plastic surgery one day to repair the damage, but her father said he's now looking at mounting medical bills that he can't pay.
That's why his family has decided to sue the dog's owner.
According to the Andersons' attorney, Mike Rowan, call logs from the Montgomery County Animal Shelter dating back to 2005 show a disturbing history at the dog owner's house. Rowan said animal control was called to the home more than 17 times before the attack.
The dog that attacked Taylor was less than 1-year-old, and a spokesperson for animal control said officers only made one documented visit during that time before the attack.
The dog that attacked Taylor was later put down, and the dog's owner did not wish to talk on camera for this story.
He did say on the phone those animal control calls were because of neighbor complaints and said animal control did come out but didn't find any problems.
A spokesperson for the Montgomery County Animal Shelter said there were no signs that the attack could have been prevented.
(WSMV - Feb 26, 2013)
