Grandmother fights to get boy away from attacking dog

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    HENDERSONVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A grandmother intervened Wednesday when a dog attacked a 6-year-old boy in the Summit Circle area of Hendersonville.

The child suffered severe but non-life-threatening injuries.

The dog was taken to Henderson County Animal Services, where it’ll undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine, which is part of the city’s dangerous dog ordinance.

The Hendersonville Police Department has deemed the dog dangerous. It will be up to the owners to pay for the days the animal is quarantined and up to them whether or not to euthanize the dog.

Hendersonville Police Chief Blair Myhand said authorities don’t know exactly what happened.

“We don’t really know the cause of this or why the dog would attack the child,” he said.

What is known is the dog, a chow-mix breed, was sleeping when the child picked up a toy. Then the dog attacked.

“Everyone needs to understand a dog, every dog, can bite,” Myhand said. “So that awareness needs to be there when you have an animal with sharp teeth.”

Animals can change over time, Myhand said, using his own dog as an example.

“As he’s gotten older, he’s less tolerant of kids stepping on his tail and things like that,” the chief said.

Luckily the boy wasn’t alone. The child’s foster grandmother was able to separate the child and dog until help arrived.

“The grandmother did everything she could, as described to me, to get this dog off this child and stop this attack,” Myhand said. “You can’t just drop your guard and think nothing will ever happen, because there’s always that possibility.”

The 6-year-old, who was staying with foster grandma while his foster mom was out of town, was bitten on the head, face and arm. He had to undergo surgery for some of his facial injuries and received multiple stitches, but he’s expected to be Ok.

“It’s certainly traumatic, when you get there and the grandmother is covered in blood and there’s blood all over the place,” Myhand said. “There’s a lot of emotion that goes on in these types of situations. Any situation involving a child, the emotions are higher.”

The attack hit close to home for responding officers

“We have families, right?” he said. “So, we understand the seriousness of these things.”

DSS is also investigating the incident.

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