Teen fights off dog, saves toddler

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Older sister called hero; toddler's face healing after surgery.

Published: Friday, February 03, 2006
PRINCE ALBERT -- A two-year-old girl is recovering in a Saskatoon hospital after being saved by her older sister from an attack by a dog which tore most of the toddler's face off.

The incident happened last Friday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. near Henribourg, 30 kilometres north of Prince Albert.

Willow Roberts was at a neighbour's house with her 12-year-old sister Kaylara Gray and their mother when Willow was attacked by a dog and dragged off, the girls' grandmother said.

The toddler screamed and the older sister ran outside, fought the dog off and brought Willow to the house.

"In my eyes Kaylara is a hero. She saved her baby sister's life," said grandmother Denise Gray, in a telephone interview Thursday.

"The surgeon personally commended Kaylara for her actions."

Kaylara is also a hero in the eyes of her uncle, Stephen Gray.

"She did something I know most adults wouldn't do. She is one brave little girl."

Much of the soft tissue on Willow's face was detached as a result of the attack.

The bites were right to the bone, her jaw was fractured, she lost two teeth and her entire nose was taken off.

"The way the children described the attack . . . the dog grabbed the baby (Willow) and carried her to the other dogs," said Stephen.

The children were outside at the home of a neighbour who has several German shepherd-rottweiler cross dogs when the attack occurred.

When the ambulance with Willow arrived at Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert, the toddler wasn't doing very well, said Stephen.

She was stabilized and transported to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.

"Doctors were able to reconstruct a large part of her face and are hopeful that because of her young age she will regain muscle control and feeling to her face," he said.

"They have performed a small miracle for that little girl."

Willow's grandmother is also praising the work of the surgeons.

"The surgeon did a beautiful job of reconstructing her face," said Denise.

"We were fortunate enough all of the soft tissue was there. There will be a lot of scarring.

"We'll know in a year the exact extent of the damages."

Denise said the surgeon believes there is a good chance all of the girl's wounds will heal properly.

"She is recovering remarkably well. She is awake and is trying to talk," said the grandmother, who drove down from La Ronge to be with her granddaughter.

Right now bandages hide the external scars but already it is obvious the little girl will have emotional scarring from the incident.

Denise said her granddaughter has not been able to sleep due to nightmares and they have had to sedate her.

Despite being praised as a hero, Kaylara is also having nightmares about the incident, says Denise.

Stephen said he contacted the RCMP in regard to the dogs.

The dog involved in the attack is in custody and being observed for diseases, while the rest of the neighbour's dogs were euthanized, he said.

RCMP did not return calls Thursday.

[Spiritus]

The neightbour who owns the dog involved euthanized all of his dogs except the one that bit the girl. The one that bit the girl was pulling the children on a sled when the attack happened. The dog is being observed for the typical rabies incubation period to ensure that she doesn't have it, according to the local news.

The family of the girl who was bitten also owns dogs, although smaller breeds (looked like Cockers on the news). She plans on rehoming them all.

[Ritz459]

Originally Posted by Spiritus

The family of the girl who was bitten also owns dogs, although smaller breeds (looked like Cockers on the news). She plans on rehoming them all.

Well, I can understand her concern, but I wouldn't rehome my dogs just because I was mauled by another dog...my younger brother's friend, Nate, used to be terrified of other dogs after he saw one of his friends get mauled by their Husky they used to have. Nate's friend had gotten tangled in the Husky's chain and the Husky freaked and bit the kid on the head.
A poorly socialized dog on a chain left unsupervised with kids...that spells DANGER. If people were responsible for their pets (and their kids), none of these attacks would happen.

Nate then perceeded to be terrified of dogs untill he met our dogs...he was scared out of his wits with them at first, but then Blackie finally got him to open up...now he has no problem with our dogs, neighborhood dogs, and his own two dogs, a Shih Tzu and a recently aquired Husky puppy.

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

A follow up story to this from today: http://www.globalpaw.com/thread13873.html

[bigdoglover]

The sad part about this article (besides the actual bite and emotional affects) is that some extremist group will jump on the "Ban GSDs and Rotts!" campaign. *sigh*

[Tiffany0204]

The dog involved in the attack is in custody and being observed for diseases, while the rest of the neighbour's dogs were euthanized, he said.

Perhaps I am missing something? Why did they euthanize the rest of the dogs that wern't involved with the attack? For potential attack issues? Did they show signs of aggression? If that were me, I'd euthanize the dog that DID the attack, and monitor the rest of them, not the other way around... but hey... what the bleep do I know?

Could someone explain this to me? Because I really feel like I am missing something here. Thanks!

Edit:

I'm not trying to downplay what happened to the little girl... Just more curious as to why they went that route. I followed the link that Crossfire posted, and it said that they're still unsure of the fate of the dog that bit the girl.

But the rest of them were euthanized? Yep, someone's really got to point this out to me. I'm confuzzled!

[britishbandit]

What a sad story. But it sounds like the kids were outside alone with these dogs. It is still beyond me why some people allow children to be left unsupervised with dogs, no matter their size. Great article to the follow up though, giving information on training and socializing your dogs. Although even with my dogs being trained and very well socialized, I would never even think about leaving them alone with children, not even for a second.

[fluffypuppylover]

Any reason as to WHY the dog attacked? Did it just run into the yard and attack?

Its sad the girls dogs will be rehomed and the other dogs who didn't bite were put down.

[Roz]

What's the link to the news article?

[Carrie]

My! What a shame. Those poor kids...the emotional scars. I do hope they can continue to reconstruct that little babies face. What a horrific thing to have happen and what a brave 12 year old!

I suspect that with that many dogs all together, they may have reverted to some kind of latent pack thing where they were veiwing the child as prey. Dogs do act differently when they're in a group like that sometimes...unless there was indeed some kind of aggression already present in that dog which came out for some reason not explained.

[babywillow]

Hi everyone i know this is on old thread but i came across this site while doing a bit of research on the attack last year... i suppose i should introduce myself ... My name is Tina and i am little Willows mother . It has been nearly a year now since my daughter was attacked and periodically i search the net looking for sites such as this. Unfortunately the media does not cover the entire story but only informs the people on what they feel is important without getting all of the facts out to the public .. The information that the media got was from my mother who was not even present when the attack occurred and did not have all of the information herself on what happened she mearly made assumptions ...it was nearly 2 weeks after the attack that i finally spoke to the media and i only did it to stop the allegations made against my neighbors ...unfortunately the media did not publicise this they only focused on the damage done by the dog and the fact that the animal in question was under supervision... so I would like to set the story strait..
First of all i would like to thank everyone for their concern for little willow she has recovered wonderfully the surgeons who worked on her did an amazing job..

The attack happened at a neighbors farm where i was visiting with my 5 children last winter there were 7 children present at the time of the attack the oldest being 17..The children were not unsupervised myself and my neighbor were watching them play.. the dog in question was pulling the kids around the yard on a toboggan..the other dogs which were 6 month old pups were tied on the yard ..Willow and her oldest sister were riding in the sled when the babies boot fell off and when they stopped to put it on her the dog turned and grabbed her by the face she was not dragged off or mauled as the media indicated.. my oldest daughter imidiately grabbed her sister and took her to me when it happened .. we do not know why the dog attacked she was always good around the kids before but unfortunately animals can be unpredictable.. the decision to euthanise the remaining dogs on the yard was a personal choice made by the owner and the dog that bit Willow was held under supervision untill it could be determined if she was infected with rabies .. once the quarentine period was over she was euthanised as well..Willow spent 16 hours in surgery and recieved more than 300 stitches to her face she had a broken jaw lost 2 teeth suffered partial paralysisto the right side of her face and has extensive scarring over her face. but the scars are now fading and unless you look closely you can hardly tell they are there at all ..she is still a beutifull little girl.. while she was still in the hospital i made the decision to find homes for my own dogs as i was unsure how she would react to them at the time i had 5 wonderful dogs a 12 yr old collie, an11yr old goldren retriever, a 6 yr old rott and, and two 8 month old terriers all of my dogs were placed with friends..When willow returned home the first thing she did was look for her puppies and was quite upset that they were gone so i spoke to my friends and brought home all of my dogs exept the terriers the family who took them had a small boy who had become quite attached to them so i left gizmo and chewy with them ..willow has no fear of dogs and our rottwieler sousance is still her best friend... The family who owened the dog that bit her. are kind hearted,wonderfull people who love thier pets and were very supportive to me and my children during our time of crisis ..I deeply regret all of the bad publicity that befell on them.. the attack was an unfortunate accident and a painfull reminder that all animals can be unpredicatable regardless of breed or species.. My daughter Kaylara still remains a hero in my eyes as well as in the eyes of her siblings she was very brave that day and her quick reponce saved her baby sister...Willow never forgot that and now the two of them are virtually inseperable.. unfortunately Kayla now has a very strong fear of dogs.. she is fine with ours but is now terrified of any others.. i hope that some day she will be able to overcome this fear as she once had dreams of becoming a veterinarian...

[britishbandit]

Wow, I'm so glad you found this forum and set the record straight. See what happens when you "listen" to the media. Rarely to they get it right eh?

I'm glad Willow is doing so well, and am so happy to hear she wanted her doggies back! I hope Kaylara is able to overcome her fear though, but it may take time.

Welcome to GP, by the way, and I hope you stick around.

[britishbandit]

Oh, and Willow is most definately a beautiful little girl. I don't know how bad the damage looked after it all, but by the sounds of it, it was really bad. The surgeons did an excellent job! I'm so glad for you and your family.

[babywillow]

thank you for the warm welcome .... this is a great site and i would love to keep coming back