MASSACHUSETTS -- Yuliya Bilzerian and her 18-month-old son are recovering from serious wounds they suffered following an attack by three American bulldogs on the property of her father-in-law, Kenneth Bilzerian, where she lived off State Road in Tisbury on Saturday night.
Ms. Bilzerian, 28, who is pregnant, was airlifted to Boston as a precautionary measure to receive treatment for a puncture wound to the head and neck. Her young son was treated in the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital emergency room for a significant bite wound to his leg. There was no immediate information on their condition Tuesday.
Tisbury Animal Control Officer (ACO) Laurie Clements ordered the three dogs quarantined and restrained on the property for 10 days under the custody of Mr. Bilzerian. Ms. Clements told The Times Monday she would not request a dog hearing before selectmen, because Mr. Bilzerian told her he planned to remove the animals.
Ms. Clements said the owner is complying with the quarantine orders. She said she believes the three dogs are brothers, and only one is neutered. Ms. Clements said she was going to go to the selectmen with the order to have the dogs neutered, but that the owner has decided to “get rid of the dogs.” She said she will not be requesting a hearing because of that decision.
“He knows he has to get rid of the dogs,” Ms. Clements said. “But I don’t know if he’s going to euthanize, or try to rehome them, or find a no-kill shelter, or what he’s going to do, but I know he’s going to re-home them all.”
Reached Tuesday by phone, Mr. Bilzerian said he did not want to comment.
Tisbury town administrator Jay Grande told The Times on Tuesday that he has asked Ms. Clements to provide him with a fuller report so he can understand why the dogs were left with the owner and what, if any, town bylaws were violated.
In a conversation Wednesday, Mr. Grande said he expects to meet with Ms. Clements next Monday. He said he considers the attack a serious issue of public safety.
Mr. Grande said he wants to know why Ms. Clements determined that the dogs could be safely quarantined at home with the owner. “I still have my own questions as to whether that was the right decision,” he said.
Taser drawn
When Tisbury Police Officers Liz Hourihan and Jeremy Rogers arrived at the house at 8:30 pm, Mr. Bilzerian was attempting to restrain one of his dogs on the ground and fend off another by swinging a piece of lumber, according to the police report. Another dog was restrained inside a truck.
Officer Rogers unholstered his Taser.
“I attempted to close the distance between myself and the dog to an effective range at which to deploy the Taser, but as I approached the dog it began to move toward me as Mr. Bilzerian yelled for it to stop,” Officer Rogers said in his report. “In order to avoid provoking the dog, I backed away and holstered my Taser.”
As Mr. Bilzerian tried to control his dogs, Officer Rogers said, “the white dog began moving away from Mr. Bilzerian, and I circled back toward the direction it was walking. As the dog began walking toward me, I informed Mr. Bilzerian that I may be required to shoot the dog if it could not be contained and became violent again. Mr. Bilzerian repeatedly asked me not to shoot the dog, and he stated he could contain them if he could get a leash.”
Officer Rogers retrieved two leashes in the garage. While Officer Rogers held the now leashed black dog that Mr. Bilzerian had been restraining on the ground, Mr. Bilzerian leashed the white dog and took it into the main house.
Officer Hourihan, who had been attending to Ms. Bilzerian, joined by Sergeant Chris Habekost, who had also arrived, “illuminated the area with flashlights at which time we were able to see the black dog was covered in blood on its muzzle, chest, head, and legs,” according to the police report.
Mr. Bilzerian told the officers that the dogs had been fighting with one another as well as attacking Ms. Bilzerian and her son.
ACO Laurie Clements also arrived at the house.
According to the police report, the woman and her son were walking toward the garage when she encountered the large black bulldog, and startled, she screamed.
“The large black dog then reportedly bit Mrs. Bilzerian’s son in the right calf, causing severe injury. Mrs. Bilzerian subsequently covered her son with her body and sustained bites to her right thigh, right calf, left side of her neck, scalp, and abdomen; it should be noted Mrs. Bilzerian is 27 weeks pregnant,” Officer Rogers said in the police report. “At this time Mr. Bilzerian stated he saw his other two dogs, American bulldogs, run from the main house, approximately 50 to 70 feet away, and engage with the large black dog.”
Mr. Bilzerian ran from the house and jumped into the melee to protect his daughter-in-law and grandson. He first removed one dog and secured it. “After several attempts to separate the other two dogs from Mrs. Bilzerian, he was able to drag them away and into the field where I located him upon my arrival,” Officer Rogers said in his report.
Show no fear
Tom Shelby, who writes the “Dogfather” column published in The Times and is an experienced dog trainer, said that while he couldn’t speak directly to the incident in Tisbury without hearing from the victims, he has experienced his share of dog aggression.
“In reality, the dog is not nearly as bold as people think,” Mr. Shelby said. “It’s when the people respond fearfully, that’s what emboldens the dog.”
Mr. Shelby said whenever a human feels intimidated by a dog, the best response is not to show that fear. He said that in general, it is best not to yell, run, or turn your back on the dog — even if it’s growling, air snapping, or coming closer. Doing so elicits a predatory aggression in the dog.
“When it gets within three or four feet, within one quick lunge it could bite you — that’s broaching the critical distance,” he said. “At that point I would actually suggest the person act aggressive and half-lunge toward the dog, yelling, ‘Get out of my face!'”
He said that if a person is faced with a standoff with a dog, keep walking backward, facing the dog. The same recommendation should be applied to bicyclists. He said that when intimidated by a dog while on a bicycle, it’s best to stop and keep the bicycle as a barrier between you and the dog.
“The thing not to do is yell and run,” Mr. Shelby said. “Be calm, keep walking backward, and threaten it if it gets too close.”
If the dog attacks regardless, Mr. Shelby said there are two possible responses.
“Go neutral without going down,” he said. “Literally don’t fight, don’t yell, stand at a 45-degree angle, and if the dog bites and you don’t respond, in a great majority of cases the dog is going to cease and desist.”
Because that’s a very tough response for a fearful human, he said the other option is to fight the dog with all you have.
Mr. Shelby did agree that the dogs should have been neutered.
“You get the testosterone out of the system, and it generally decreases the aggression,” Mr. Shelby said. “It’s really that simple.”
He said he’s been called in many cases of aggression to assess the situation.
“It’s not an easy thing to deal with,” he said. “It’s really not.”
(Martha's Vineyard Times - June 16, 2015)
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