Family: girl injured in
dog mauling still loves dogs

Posted: Jan 7, 2008
By WHITNEY HOLMES
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Family members were relieved Monday to find out the Knoxville girl attacked by a rottweiler this past weekend is on the road to recovery. And they say she's still a dog lover.

On Saturday, Daishauna Craig was walking along Vermont Avenue when the rottweiler got loose and latched onto her neck.

Neighbors were able to fight off the dog with a 2x4 until paramedics arrived.

"The fire department had to hose the street off there was so much blood everywhere," said Daishauna's grandmother, Phyllis Waller.

Waller says Daishauna is still in the ICU but walked around Monday for the first time since the rottweiler mauled her, requiring over 100 stitches in her neck.

"There was a hole in her jugular vein but it had clotted off, which doctor said was one in 10,000 that it clotted off," Waller said.

Dakota Craig, Daishauna's cousin who was with her during the attack, says the dog, named "Danger," got off its chain a lot. He blames the size of the chain which he says was fit for a small dog. He estimates Danger weighed about 125 pounds.

"We went to tell them that their dog was loose and the dog came and ripped off her jacket and got her in the chest and in the throat," Dakota said.

Phyllis says Daishauna is an animal lover who walks her dog, Jazzy, every day. She says that if Daishauna comes home and is afraid of Jazzy they'll have to get rid of her pet.

However, right now Daishauna still loves dogs and was even upset that the rottweiler that attacked her was shot and killed by Dakota's father.

"They got two other pitbulls and she was so worried that they were going to get hurt because she's a dog lover," Waller said.

Daishauna has received rabies shots and family members hope she'll be home in a few days.

Police say the only charges they've placed against the dog owner are ones dealing with the dog not having tags.

Police say they can't charge the owner with anything else because her friend had already chained the dog back up by the time the officer arrived.

The victim's family could sue in civil court for violation of the leash law.

Girl recovers after vicious dog mauling

www.volunteertv.com
Posted: 10:38 PM Jan 5, 2008
Reporter: Nick Bona

Knoxville (WVLT) -- A young Knoxville girl remains in the hospital after being mauled by a dog early Saturday evening.
 
It happened around 5:30 PM. Neighbors said two children were playing outside a home on Vermont Avenue in the Western Heights neighborhood when it happened.
 
One witness told WVLT that she saw the nine year old girl come around the front of the house with a black rottweiler holding onto her coat.

When she girl tried to grab it back, the dog grabbed her neck and took her down.
 
"I hollered for my husband and I said, that dog is going to kill that little girl," said Gloria Harvey, who witnessed the attack from her living room.
One neighbor grabbed a stick and beat the dog till it let the girl loose while another called 9-1-1.
 
Minutes later a man appeared from down the road and shot the dog three times. The little girl was taken to UT Medical Center where she remains in stable condition. Neighbors said the rottweiler is normally chained, but had gotten loose at least three other times.
 
"That dog I’m afraid of, or I was afraid of,” said Harvey. “I knew eventually something was going to happen and it was going to be bad. Those poor little girls got hurt because of that."
 
Police say the owner of the dog has been charged with a pair of animal violations, one for letting a dog run loose and the other for not having its shots record.
 
Their investigation is still ongoing.
 
As for the dog, he survived and was taken to the Animal Shelter. His condition has not been released.
 
We'll bring you the latest on this story as it develops.