Dog bites child when boy takes off costume

CALIFORNIA -- A 5-year-old boy used his imagination Friday, July 18, to turn a discarded box into a costume, complete with eye holes so he could see where he was going. He was having fun playing with friends on a ranch-style property in the desert community of Thermal when a curious dog wandered over to take a look.

The fun ended, however, when the child took off the costume to reveal a little boy underneath. The dog, possibly startled, bit the boy in the face and on an arm, according to Riverside County Animal Services.

The boy suffered at least two bites.

“As soon as the little boy took off that box, the dog charged him,” Animal Control Officer Gerald Duchene said in a news release. “It’s hard to say whether the dog was spooked out when suddenly a child appeared from under the box, but he went after the boy.”

The incident happened just before 4 p.m. in the 88-300 block of Avenue 57. The property has several houses within a fenced lot and the dog, a 2-year-old German shepherd-Shar Pei mix named Pickett, is normally tethered at the lot, the owner told Duchene. The boy lives on the property.

The dog’s owner surrendered Pickett for humane euthanasia. Duchene said the man was visibly shaken as he spoke with him and cooperated with the officer’s report. He told the officer he didn’t know how the dog had gotten loose.

Animal Services spokesman John Welsh wrote in the news release that state law prohibits a dog from being tethered for extended periods of time. A trolley system, which includes a pulley, is a legal way a dog can be kept within a property in an effort to protect people and prevent the dog from escaping a yard, Welsh wrote.

(Press Enterprise - July 18, 2014)