The first day of school came to a frightening end for two young children in the Lakeview neighbourhood in Regina Thursday.
Oliecia Obarianyk and Mike Raab said they were walking their children, age six and seven, home from school with their 10-week-old puppy, Monty when a large dog came barreling towards them.
“When the dog came at me, he or she hit me so hard my phone flew into the other yard,” Obarianyk said.
“I ended up on the grass and I turned around and it had the puppy in its mouth.”
Raab grabbed the children and made sure they were out of harm’s way. Obarianyk said she then leaped into action.
“I picked up and I kind of tackled the dog. But, the dog weighs the same as I do, so I kind of had it in a choke hold,” she said.
That’s when Raab stepped in, Obarianyk said, prying Monty from the dog’s clenched mouth.
“I didn’t even realize I had been bitten until after I pulled my hand out and there was blood everywhere,” Raab said. “I didn’t know if it was mine. I thought it was the puppy’s at first.”
“I didn’t know if it was mine. I thought it was the puppy’s at first.”
Raab didn’t need stitches but was given shots and antibiotics.
Monty is suffering internal bruising, Obarianyk said. Obarianyk added that the dog is having a hard time even squatting to relieve herself.
“She’s in a lot of pain. It’s getting really bad. She’s limping now,” Obarianyk said.
Both are more worried about the kids who witnessed the attack and frantic rescue.
“Going to school today they were like, ‘we have to walk by that house mom is it ok for us to walk by’?”
Animal protection in Regina has intervened. The dog who attacked is in a 10-day quarantine to ensure it’s not suffering from rabies.
Bill Thorn from the Regina Humane Society says in these types of cases, an animal protection officer could investigate the dangerous dog complaint if the officer thought it was a serious enough incident.
“Then there could be a hearing with the courts. At that point they would look at the evidence and determine if that dog could be deemed a dangerous dog,” Thorn said.
There’s a variety of outcomes for a dangerous dog. Owners could be required to use a muzzle at all times, restrict the dog’s movements within the city, or in extreme cases, euthanize the animal.
“They said because it wasn’t a child and because it wasn’t fatal then well we don’t think that would actually happen,” Obarianyk said.
It was troubling news for the family, who were hoping for a stronger response.
“We were lucky that it wasn’t more severe. But I don’t know why it has to wait to get to that severity before somebody does something about it.”
For now, the family is focused on nursing Monty back to health.
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