Pit bull attack sparks Weld Co. quarantine changes

COLORADO -- Brianna Leos is 11 years old and a dog lover. Her Teacup Pomeranian Chloe is her best friend.

"I'm not afraid of the small dogs, I'm afraid of the big dogs," Leos said.

She's afraid of big dogs as of Sunday afternoon, after Evans Police say a neighbor's pit bull mix attacked her, causing serious injuries to the back of her skull. It also left scratches on her back.

"I was playing in the front and my next door neighbor [was] coming outside [and] the pit bull just ran through the door," she said. "I was trying to run to my house as fast as I can, right as I got to the porch, the dog just came and attacked me."

"I heard her scream, the way she screamed, I knew something was wrong," said Tasha Guerrero, Brianna's mom.

Weld County doesn't ban any breed of dog. The family says the next door neighbor warned them about one of his pets when he moved in about a month ago.

"The one who attacked her was adopted and it was abused previously," Guerrero said. "And it had issues with women. He told us not to approach it, pet it, anything like that."

After the attack, Evans police decided to keep the dog quarantined inside the home, which is allowed under city policy.

"To me, you see a dog does this, sees the injuries, you don't leave it at home," Guerrero said. "There is no sense in the world for you to leave that dog to go back inside. Especially if it got out the first time by mistake. That's not OK."

But on Monday, the officer saw Brianna's injuries and decided to move the quarantine to the Weld County Animal Shelter. And now the city tells 9NEWS it might be looking at the long-standing quarantine policy.

"Because of this event, I think we can look at it and make any changes that we feel are necessary," said Evans Police Commander Chad Harding.

Brianna says she doesn't blame her neighbor, just his dog.

The dog owner was given a citation for having a vicious animal.

He didn't want to talk to 9NEWS on camera, but told 9NEWS crime and justice reporter Anastasiya Bolton he rescued this dog and the dog also rescued him, when he was going through a hard time.
However, he told Bolton he's decided to have the dog euthanized.

The city says it will first have to quarantine the animal for 10 days.

Guerrero reached out to 9NEWS anchor Kyler Dyer Monday morning looking for resources for her daughter. Dyer suffered a dog attack on live TV in 2012.

(9NEWS.com - Mar 23, 2015)