A dangerous dog hearing called after an Olds woman had a large chunk of flesh ripped from her arm during a dog attack last summer is underway in Didsbury provincial court.
The hearing under the provincial Dangerous Dog Act is being held to determine if the two-and-a-half-year-old mixed breed dog involved in the attack should be destroyed.
Lynn McKay, 51, was attacked in an alley behind 51 Street in Olds on August 19. She suffered a severe wound that required extensive medical treatment and has left a permanent scar.
The owner of the dog, Jeffrey Harmsworth, pleaded guilty in December to a charge under the Olds dog bylaw of allowing a dog to bite a person, court heard. He was fined $300.
The dangerous dog hearing got underway before commissioner John Szekeres on Friday.
Testifying for the Crown, McKay said the dog attacked without warning and without provocation.
“The dog was laying on the ground and all of a sudden the dog was lunging at me,” she said. “The dog knocked me to the ground and shook me like a french fry.”
She said she spent three days at a Calgary hospital following the attack, where skin grafting surgery was undertaken. The attack has left a large scar across her right arm at the elbow.
Since the attack she has been required to conduct scar massages on the wound four times a day, massages she says will have to continue for the rest of her life. She said the scaring is permanent.
She said she is also receiving therapy treatment to deal with ongoing emotional trauma.
“I don't walk anywhere,” she said. “If there is a dog I can hear barking, I go home.”
She told the commissioner that she believes the dog remains a danger to others. “I would really like to see the dog euthanized,” she said. “I think the dog should be put down.”
McKay's husband, James Potter, also testified for the Crown. He said the attack was wholly unexpected. “All of a sudden the dog bolted at us, breaking its restraint (which was tied to a truck). It jumped up and grabbed my wife's arm and bit her. I could see the spit flying out of the dog's mouth.”
He called the incident “very shocking” and “unprovoked.”
He described the animal as weighing about 80 pounds and having a large jaw.
He said he believes the animal should be euthanized.
“A child would not have survived an attack like this,” he said.
Harmsworth testified he had owned the dog for more than two years after adopting it when it was about five weeks old.
He said the animal had never attacked or bitten anyone before.
The dog has now been given to an acquaintance in Bowden, where it lives with other dogs in a fenced compound, he said.
He said he did not know the exact breed of the dog.
Crown prosecutor Dave Burroughs told the commissioner that the Crown would like to see the dog euthanized as a public safety measure.
“The animal should be put down,” said Burroughs.
Commissioner Szekeres adjourned the hearing until April 13 at which time Harmsworth is expected to present photos of the dog's current living arrangements, including photos of the dog's enclosure.
Following court, McKay said she plans to attend the April 13 hearing and any others that may be held.
She also explained that she has started a petition in Olds calling for the dog in question to be euthanized.
