North Carolina: Woman and her children attacked by pit bull mixes. Owner insists they're "not vicious", just "playful"

NORTH CAROLINA -- A mother and her three daughters are recovering after a horrifying dog attack in north Charlotte.

The mother was bitten twice by two pit bull mixes who trapped the family inside a home.

The attack happened on the mother's first day of her new job. She was dropping her daughters off at their grandmother’s house, on Snow White Lane, so she could drive to work when two pit bull mixes cornered them on the front porch.

"When they were grabbing for my babies, I had to fight," Neshia Watson said.

Watson kicked and clawed the dogs in order to protect her daughters and keep them back.

"I was screaming and I was trying to get my mom back because I didn't want it to bite her," 9-year-old Madison Watson said.

She was huddling behind her mother with her younger sister. The door behind them was locked because her grandmother didn't realize what was happening.

Her mother was shielding them with her body when one of the dogs grabbed her leg and bit her twice.

"Just as I got bitten, my mom opened the door, we fell into the door and the dogs came in on top of us; came inside the house," Neshia Watson said.

A neighbor heard their screams after the dogs boxed them inside the house.

"He came and got one of the chairs out of the yard and fought the dogs," Watson said.

The neighbor managed to fight the dogs off with a chair that was in the yard.

Once the animals were back outside, the pit bull mixes ran up to the door again.

However, they were locked out when they tried to enter the house for the second time.

The two dogs stood on the porch, keeping the family trapped in their home until the owner showed up.

Watson told Channel 9 the owner told her she was in the shower and didn't realize her dogs were running wild.

"She did apologize but the first thing she said was they're not vicious dogs, they're just playful. I said, 'But ma'am, a bite is a bite. They attacked us,'" she said.

According to Animal Care and Control, the dogs that attacked Watson did not have current rabies vaccinations.

Watson is going to check into a hospital to see if she's OK.

Both dogs are being held by Animal Control. The one that bit Watson will be in rabies quarantine for 10 days.

Officials said the owner has been cited with unprovoked bite and violating leash law. According to Animal Care and Control, the owner did not have a license for the dogs.

(WSOCTV - Oct 3, 2016)