A dog seriously
mauled its two owners on Friday afternoon and then, as they were being
treated by EMS personnel outside their home in Morgan Park, escaped,
prompting police officers to warn folks they found outside to be on the
watch for a potentially dangerous K-9.
The dog
subsequently returned home and was taken into custody by Porter County
Animal Control.
The incident
occurred at 1:10 p.m. in the 500 block of East Morgan Ave., Deputy Fire
Chief Nate Williams told the Chesterton Tribune today. Williams had
no information about the actual circumstances of the dog’s attack except to
say that he believes the animal is a Rottweiler mix which went first for the
male owner and then the female, when the latter came to her husband’s aid.
The man sustained
deep bites to both arms and the back--injuries serious enough, Williams
said, to likely warrant surgery--while the woman sustained bites to the face
and one arm. Both were transported to the Franciscan Alliance ER department
on Indian Boundary Road.
Meanwhile,
firefighters were unsuccessful in an attempt to secure the dog by means of a
capture-noose kept on hand by the CFD. The dog, for its part, continued to
“lunge” at its owners while they were being treated by EMS--the man on the
lawn, the woman on the porch--and firefighters were forced to resort to a
water extinguisher to keep the animal at bay, Williams said. Wetted down,
the dog then fled the scene.
CPD and Animal
Control officers--assisted by firefighters until 1:39 p.m., when the CFD
cleared to respond to another call--proceeded to search Morgan Park for the
dog, Police Chief Dave Cincoski told the Tribune. Anyone seen outside
was warned by officers to be on the lookout for the dog. Officers also paid
a visit to the Duneland Y to issue the same warning to staff and members,
Cincoski said.
At some point the
dog did return home and the owner’s daughter was “instrumental” in securing
it until Animal Control arrived to take it into custody, Cincoski said. He
was unable to say at what time exactly the dog was off the streets but did
know that “there were no additional reports of aggression to people between
the time of the attack and when it was taken into custody.”
Cincoski also
confirmed that the CPD “does have prior reports of a K-9 at this
residence being aggressive.”