Posted 8:49 am Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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Neighborhood Dog Attacks Woman, Pet
By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer
What began as a casual walk with her 10-year-old Yorkie, Cassie, turned into a nightmare that Sue Hearon keeps playing over and over in her mind.
Ms. Hearon, 61, said she took Cassie for a walk in her neighborhood about 7 p.m. Sunday when she and the 9-pound dog were attacked by a neighbor's larger dog. She described the dog as a pit bull.
"We walked down Maji (Road) to Paluxy Drive (near Whitehouse) as we do all the time. I have walked by the house on the corner all the time, and the dog would run up and down the fence line and bark but never tried anything else," she said.
She said the owner of the home was outside mowing his yard when the dog jumped the fence and charged her and Cassie.
"My first thought when I saw him coming was this is not going to be good," she said.
Ms. Hearon said when the large dog first grabbed her dog; he hit them both so hard, it knocked her to the ground.
The larger dog bit the small dog until Ms. Hearon said she scooped her dog into her arms and stomach in an effort to protect it from the unrelenting attack.
"That is when the dog grabbed my left arm and began biting me over and over. I just began punching the dog in the head, but he just kept biting me," she said.
Ms. Hearon said the owner ran into the road and grabbed his dog off of her and began helping her.
"I went to the clinic and had a tetanus shot and was put on some high-powered antibiotics. My arm has multiple puncture wounds and is swollen," she said.
She said Cassie was taken to the family veterinarian and treated for multiple bites including one in the dog's hind quarter so serious a drainage tube has been left in the dog.
She is worried about the cost of the incident, but said she is thankful.
"This could have been a lot worse, because there is no doubt in my mind that dog was not stopping," she said.
Smith County Sheriff's Lt. Tony Dana said the case is under investigation, but added the larger dog was attacking the dog and not intentionally attacking the victim so it was unclear if the case was a vicious dog attack.
"We will be following up on the case to check and see if the dog has all of its required shots, but I don't think this will meet the criteria for a vicious dog," he said.
Ms. Hearon said she was not able to sleep Sunday night because she kept dreaming of the attack.
"It's such a horrible thing to go through," she said.
