The wound is small but the hurt is big.
A woman was attacked by a dog in her neighbourhood for the second time Friday, but after the most recent incident, the animal will now be destroyed.
Kam Ho was delivering the Shuswap Market News for her son around 12:30 p.m., when the large shepherd mix escaped from his owner’s property.
The petite woman was across the street and two doors down from the property where the dog lives in the 4700 block of 72nd Avenue in Canoe.
“I heard the dog barking and then I saw him coming for me. I was worried so I went to hide behind the neighbour’s car,” she said tearfully. “The dog came around the car and jumped on me and started biting my arm and leg.”
A neighbour, who wishes to be known only as Sam, heard screaming and went to investigate.
“I ran out to see if she was OK,” Sam says, pointing out the dog had stopped attacking and was just standing there. “The owner was there, very upset. She kept saying, ‘He jumped the fence, he jumped the fence.’”
In the December attack, the dog had jumped off a deck on his owner’s property.
Because Ho was wearing winter clothing, the bites left teeth marks and bruising, but no puncture wounds.
At that time, the dog’s owner told Ho she would make sure the dog was leashed on Fridays, something Ho says did not happen consistently.
And this time, the bites punctured the skin on Ho’s arm and leg.
Sam took her to the hospital where Ho received a tetanus shot and had her wounds cleaned up. She says she was asked to make sure the dog’s shots were up to date.
Some three hours after the most recent attack, Pat Ellis of K9 Dog Control, said the dog’s owner had already surrendered her dog.
Ellis says the dog’s owner was fined after its first attack in December – $100 for a vicious dog charge, $50 for not having him licensed and $100 for being at large.
“It is the owner’s wish to have the dog put down,” said Ellis, noting had the owner not surrendered the dog, K9 would have sought a court order. “It was the responsible thing to do.”
Ellis says many dog attacks take place without being reported, something that makes dealing with the issue more difficult.
“It’s very important when people get attacked or threatened so we have a history – so it doesn’t take four or five bites before we hear about it.”
People can lodge a complaint by calling K9 Dog Control at 250-833-8492 or by filling out a complaint form at dogcontrol.ca.
“They can fill it out and we will deal with it the same day,” Ellis says.