Five-year-old Barrett Graeter disagrees. Barrett's face, legs and arm were bitten during an attack by Toothless.
The police report says the attack happened when Barrett went into Wade's backyard to retrieve Barrett's dog, which had gotten loose. While in the backyard, Wade's large dog got loose from being restrained on a leash.
“Although it's very sensational to call it a vicious dog mauling, it's a terrible accident that occurred from negligence of a parent of a 5-year-old who didn't know where their kid was,” Wade said.
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| The video is great because the dog immediately jumps on the owner's son who starts yelling, "Ow! Ow!" and tries to get away from the dog so the owner grabs the dog and then talks about what a great dog it is. |
Wade blames the attack on Barrett's parents and Barrett himself.
“The child parades that dog to antagonize Toothless so when they meet in the backyard, there's aggression. There's gonna be,” Wade said.
Wade wasn't home during the attack, but his 9-year-old was.
"9-year-old says every time that kid ever got around my dog in this back yard, he kicked him or punched him,” Wade said.
Barrett said the only time he ever punched the dog was while he was being mauled in an attempt to get Toothless to stop.
“He was like, 'Rrrrrr,' kept biting, was trying to bite through my leg,” Barrett said.
“How did you get him off your face?” I asked.
“I punched him,” Barrett said.
Barrett said he's been attacked by Toothless twice before.
"I had my hard coat on and held it over my head. He kept biting my head,” said Barrett.
Clark County Animal Control initially ordered the dog quarantined at the home, which outraged Barrett's mom because the home is where the attack happened. Later, the dog was transferred to Animal Control after a vaccination violation was discovered. Then, at the end of the 10-day quarantine, Toothless was released back to the residence.
“The only thing they told us we needed to do was make certain he could not get out and run the streets, which would be antagonizing the situation. That's it. And I will admit a time or two since then the kids have screwed up, let him out. It is what it is,” said Wade.
While Wade said he couldn't do much more than have his dog leashed in a fenced-in backyard, he installed a dog run after the attack.
"Do you consider your dog to be dangerous? Right now, if a child was walking by here, and he got off a leash, you don't think he would attack?” I asked.
“Not at all," said Wade. "The antagonist in this was the dog with that child."
Barrett's mother said blaming the boy or her is flabbergasting, and none of it matters now. She said what matters is how these dog attack cases are handled in Indiana, and how Barrett is going to be affected for the rest of his life.
Animal Control will not comment on the case, because they've been contacted by an attorney.
(WAVE3 News - March 24, 2015)
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