A man and woman are recovering from serious dog bites inflicted on various parts of their bodies early last week.
The couple, a 27-year-old female from Olds and 28-year-old male from Didsbury, were attacked by two Akitas inside the male's home on the Westcott Road on the evening of July 26.
The two were returning to the male's house that he shares with another couple. Entrance to his suite is gained through the garage where a male and female Akita were housed with four new pups.
The male was looking after the dogs owned by the other renters, who were in and out of town and was attending to them when he came home. The female came inside through the man door with her pet beagle, when the female Akita lunged at her. The man intervened and the male dog jumped to attack as well.
RCMP and EMS responded and were able to contain the dogs within the garage. The two individuals were taken to Didsbury Hospital around 10 p.m. that night and discharged around 10 a.m. the next morning.
Police said there was “horrific bloodletting” on scene with a great amount of blood lost by both people and the beagle. The couple have significant lacerations on their upper torsos, forearms, hands and thighs. The dog had stents placed into his body to let out the swelling and police guess he will probably require another operation to work on severed blood vessels. Police said the dogs have no known history of violence.
Amanda Stuhl, bylaw officer for Mountain View County, said the couple were able to free themselves from the dogs after hitting them with a stabilizer bar.
“The male that was attacked managed to pick up part of a stabilizer bar and he hit the dog with that. The male dog was attacking him and he managed to get out of the man door. The female managed to do the same and get outside the garage.”
Police said the Akitas suffered no visible injuries. Stuhl said Wednesday the City of Calgary Animal Services were in Didsbury to assist in removing the dogs from the home. The two are now in an animal services shelter in Calgary.
“They'll remain for the next 10 days under quarantine. If the owners signed a consent form for them to be euthanized, then they'll be euthanized at the end of 10 days. Otherwise we would have to seek a destruction order under the Dangerous Dogs Act of Alberta,” she said.
The owners of the Akitas face two counts of dangerous attack on humans and one count of damage to another animal under the Mountain View County animal control bylaw. The names of the individuals won't be released but Stuhl said they have a court appearance set for September 2 at the Didsbury provincial court.
