Victoria Gillis, 21, has worked with dogs since she was a girl. She was working at a North Burnaby pet store on April 6 when a man and a woman brought in their English bulldog for grooming services, saying it had been sprayed by a skunk.
No groomer was available so Victoria offered them the use of the tub and assisted them as they bathed the dog, even showing them how to use the blowdryer.
The couple then wanted to buy a new harness so Victoria helped them fit it.
"The dog lunged at my face, no warning. There was no ears back, tail down, tail wagging, fur standing up, any of that. It was just he was standing there and then he was on my face."
The bite ripped open her lip in two places, she had puncture wounds under her chin, her nose was scratched up and she had two teeth knocked out. A few inches lower and it would have bit into her jugular, higher and she could have lost an eye, Victoria said.
All Victoria remembers after that is the woman dropped the dog's leash and kept saying the dog was agitated because of being sprayed by the skunk earlier. She doesn't buy it since the spraying had happened hours earlier.
"They did nothing to help me. It was actually another customer who was like, 'oh my God, oh my God,' and took me and sat me down, I couldn't think straight."
Victoria's co-worker called 911 and called back Victoria's boyfriend, who had just left the store moments earlier, to help.
She doesn't recall what happened with the dog after that. "I was concentrating on the blood pouring out of my face."
At the hospital Victoria underwent two hours of emergency surgery to get her lip sewn up and have her teeth put back in. She needs to have a metal bar in her mouth for six to eight weeks to hold her teeth in, she might have scars on her face.
"It's going take me eight to 12 months to heal fully and then I might need more surgery."
To make matters worse, she's weeks away from completing her degree at Capilano University but the doctor has ordered her to not attend school for two weeks, meaning she'll miss up to three exams.
And she's worried the dog could do this to someone else.
"I want the dog put down because I don't want it attacking someone else, especially children," Victoria said. "If I was little this could've killed me."
Her mother, Tamara, noted her daughter is an aspiring actress and it will be months before she knows if she'll require plastic surgery. As it is, she'll need root canals for her to keep her teeth.
Tamara said she happened to come into the store shortly after the incident to find blood all over the floor and Victoria's teeth on the ground. "I was in shock, her face was hanging in flaps."
She too wants to make sure the dog can't do this to anyone else.
Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Dave Reid said police only deal with the potential criminal aspect. Neither the owner nor his partner face criminal charges because they did not take any action to cause the dog to attack, he said.
As for the dog, it is being assessed by the BC SPCA.
"What I understand at the moment is that it is considered quite aggressive," Reid said.
"Apparently this is not the first instance, this had happened several times before," he said, noting that its owners had volunteered that information.
Ryan Voutilainen, manager of the BC SPCA's Burnaby branch where the dog is being held, said the dog is owned by a Chilliwack resident and was relinquished to the Burnaby RCMP.
The SPCA has 21 days to complete its investigation and then either return the animal or seek action through the courts.
"If we do determine we want to go the route where we believe the animal is going to pose a danger to other members of the public we could seek to have the dog destroyed," Voutilainen said.
If that is the case, and the owner refuses, the SPCA would then apply to the City of Burnaby, whose bylaws it is enforcing, and city hall would seek a court order to have the dog put down.
"The guardians of this dog have been cooperative throughout this investigation," he noted.
(Burnaby NewsLeader - April 16, 2013)
