Boy, 12, recovering from attack by dog


By KIMBERLY VETTER
Advocate staff writer
Published: Dec 1, 2007
www.2theadvocate.com

A 12-year-old Denham Springs boy is recovering from a dog bite that required surgery and could leave life-long scars on the boy’s legs.

“I don’t think he will lose any mobility, but only time will tell,” Robert

McNaylor said Friday about his son, Tristan McNaylor. “Doctors used 2 feet worth of stitches to sew him up.”

Details about whether the injuries to both the boy’s legs were due to dog bites and what led to the attack are not clear.

Robert McNaylor said a mixed-breed bull mastiff bit Tristan on his left ankle and right hamstring around 4 p.m. Thursday while he was playing at a friend’s house at 15722 Woodwick Ave.

The dog bit Tristan after he left his friend’s backyard and stood by a nearby pickup while the dog was released from a chain to be fed, McNaylor said.

Once the dog was released, it jumped over a 3-to-4-foot fence and into the truck bed, where Tristan was standing, McNaylor said. At some point, someone pulled the dog off Tristan and out of the truck.

“My son was intimidated by it,” McNaylor said of the dog. “That’s why he left the yard. He thought he was doing the smart thing.”

Fred Raiford, a spokesman with the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office, said Tristan ran to the truck after being bitten on the ankle by the dog. The gash on the boy’s hamstring, Raiford said, occurred when he jumped into the truck.

“I’m not aware of the dog jumping into the truck,” he said.

The owners of the dog, whose names the Sheriff’s Office did not release Friday, were not available for comment. A call was made to their home Friday and a reporter went by the house and left a message with a young girl there.

The owners of the dog could face jail time under the city-parish’s dog ordinance, which was strengthened in October after another boy was attacked by a pit bull.

The ordinance calls for a mandatory $500 fine to be levied against anyone whose dog severely bites, mauls or disfigures a human. In addition, the dog owner can be sentenced to up to 30 days in jail.

Hilton Cole, director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Animal Control Center, said the dog was not confiscated, but was put on a 10-day rabies observation at home. A veterinarian will sign off on the condition of the dog at the end of the 10 days, Cole said.

As for the details surrounding the incident, Cole said he wasn’t familiar with them, but will look into the case.

Meanwhile, Tristan is learning how to walk on crutches after undergoing surgery to repair his ankle and leg, McNaylor said.

“He’s in a lot of pain,” he said. “But that’s not going to slow him down.”