Florida: Mother recounts pit attack that put her daughter in ICU, hospitalized her and the dog owner

FLORIDA -- Balloons and stuffed animals surround a five-year-old girl at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. Zoey Green has been there four days now following a horrific dog attack in Crestview.

“She hasn’t been able to smile like she normally does,” Zoey’s mom, Paige Woody said.

Woody said that she and her daughter went to a home on 186 Villacrest Drive to go over dog sitting instructions.

She said she had previously taken care of the two dogs, both pit bull mixes, but went over to the house to go over some changes with the dogs’ owner.

Woody said that she left her daughter inside the home, while she and the dogs’ owner talked outside with the dogs. Woody said that her daughter tapped on a glass door about three times because she was trying to get her mother’s attention.

“I cracked the door to say we’re getting ready to leave and as soon as I cracked the door, the dog yanked her out by the face,” Woody said.

Woody said that she threw herself in the middle of the attack and the larger male dog bit the top of her head. She said while that was happening, the smaller female dog began biting its owner who tried to intervene.

“I was just going to lay there until somebody came, but the bleeding was so bad that I wouldn’t make it and he would just taker her anyway,” Woody said.

Woody said she let the dog attack her while she crawled inside to protect her daughter. She said she tucked her into her stomach like a baby kangaroo.

 

 

“The only thing I could think of was, please take me, I’ll just protect her with my whole body,” Woody said. “I was so scared that I lost her that day.”

Green was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) up until Monday. She had to have numerous staples in her head. She also broke her jaw and needed her eyelid re-attached. Doctors were able to save her eye, but she will need many more procedures in the future. 

Woody said she had to have stitches in her head too, but is thankful that they both survived.

 

 

“Just happened so fast and she’s just, she’s been a trooper,” Woody said.

WEAR-TV spoke with the dogs’ owner and has chosen not to name her because no criminal charges or citations have been filed. The dogs’ owner told WEAR-TV that she has been grieved since the incident happened and plans to have the dogs euthanized. The dogs' owner was also hospitalized from the attack.

Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) confiscated the dogs the day of the attack and placed them in quarantine.

 

 

 

 

(WEAR - Mar 28, 2017)

Earlier:

• Florida: Dog attack in Crestview sends 5-year-old girl, two others to hospital
• Florida: It "tore off her eyelid, broke her jaw and left her with more stitches and staples than her family can count". She is a just five years old.

Update to story:

• Florida: Zoey Green, 5, slowly recovering from horrific pit bull attack
• Florida: Pit Bull attack survivors cope with anxiety, seek funds for treatments
• Florida: Six-year-old girl savagely attacked by pit bull still healing a year later