DUNKIRK, NY --New neighbors with a big dog. A little boy riding his bike.

A loose dog allegedly bites the boy and neighbors are at odds in the city of Dunkirk.

The dog's owners, Terry and Jodie Wickham, are scheduled to be in City Court Monday morning to answer charges of allowing a dog to run at large.

The boys parents, Rick and Tami Cooper, along with their immediate neighbors, Tom and Carol Gregoreski, want something done to make sure their Margay Street neighborhood is safe after the June 2 incident.

Tami Cooper recalled the incident during a recent interview.

"The dog was chained up on a little-link chain. Troy was riding his bike right in front of the neighbor's house when I turned and looked ... the dog was charging. It must have broken off the leash, the chain, and started charging for him. I screamed, 'The dog is loose,'" she said. "Thank goodness my husband and I were out front. He ran and got Troy from under the arms as he was riding the bike toward us. .. The dog was latched on. (Rick) grabbed the bike and threw it at the dog."

"I didn't throw it, I held onto it," Rick remembered. "The dog went after me."

According to the Coopers, the dog was charging again when neighbor Tom Gregoreski joined the fray with a baseball bat. Meanwhile, Tami was tending to 6-year-old Troy.

"He was screaming, I looked and he showed me his side and that's when we saw all the blood," Tami said. "We called the paramedics, 9-1-1, we had three cop cars here."

According to all involved, the dog, Spike, and the other two dogs in the Wickham house, have their shots.

"We don't see the other ones as often. This rough, vicious one is always out there, I don't know why," Rick said. " ... The one that attacked Troy has the white under his neck. ... That's the one that's always out there, it's so vicious.

"It's funny. When this happened of course they didn't believe that their dog attacked a child. You know, 'are you sure it's our dog?' and blah-blah-blah. They never came to check up and see if he was OK."

The Coopers have a lawyer looking into civil action, saying the Wickhams have offered no response to the incident.

"Every one of these neighbors has called that that dog's gotten loose numerous times," Tami said. "They all went with us the next day to the mayor's office to complain because it's just an ongoing situation. Nothing's being done about that pitbull."

The Wickhams have lived at the Ocelot Street residence since late fall. It is the only rental property on the block, according to the Coopers.

"He looks scary, I understand that," Jodie Wickham said of Spike. "Ever since we moved in the neighbors have not liked us. One, they said they didn't want us moving into their neighborhood, and two, they said they didn't want pitbulls. So right away everybody's been really upset that we've been here."

Both Wickhams said the dog has been teased by boys in the neighborhood. Terry recounted the day in question, saying Spike had been out but a short time while he unloaded groceries.

"I went out to the backyard to get the trash to put out, ... and there was my dog out in the backyard wandering around calm as ever. It couldn't have been two minutes from the time I hooked him on the leash until the time I found him out in the backyard," he stated. "I went to grab him and he came right to me. ... On his collar where I hook his chain on him the clasp that hooks onto the collar was broken off from the chain and still hanging on his collar. How he broke it I'm not really sure, but he came right to me. I hooked him up to the other chain we have in the backyard and I finished taking the trash out."

Terry said he was inside until the police showed up some five minutes later saying his dog had bitten a boy. Terry said he asked but was not allowed to see the wound.

"I have seen dogs that when they jump they also make deep scratches that look like a bite and some people would say a kid got bit because of something like that, just because they see a mark," he said. " ... We never got any tickets or anything like that from the police or dog catcher."

He said that did not make the neighbors happy and eventually an order to appear in court was issued.

"We were told there was a huge chnk ripped out," Jodie said. "That's what we are trying to find out. If it's a bite, for one, I don't think my dog did it, let alone ripped a chunk out, because he would have had blood on him. He's very white in the front."

Jodie said she has been a dog owner her entire life and has put a dog down before for biting when it got older.

"I'm not going to take a chance and that's what I told (ACO Wally Baker). If I fully believed in my heart that my dog bit this litle boy, I would put him to sleep myself," she said. "He's a big family baby. Pitbulls get a bad name to begin with but it's the owners who do it. We have not trained him to be vicious in any way and he is nothing but a family dog."

The Wickhams said they could not afford a lawyer but would be willing to buy an enclosure to put Spike in when he's outside.

"I'm willing to do that but I don't want to go and spend the money on that because that's almost $300 for one of those. We've been saving our money up to move out of this neighborhood," Terry stated. "Now, if it happens we have to spend that money, we're going to end up being in the neighborhood even longer."

While this is, if it is, a first offense for Spike, the Wickhams are worried about the outcome in court.

"I've had a lot of people tell me if the dog had never done anything before the judge won't have him put to sleep but from what we're hearing these people are personal friends of the mayor and the judge. When I found that out it changes things, he could end up getting put to sleep. ... I think things are totally stacking against us and I really wish I could afford a lawyer because I don't want my dog to end up getting put to sleep."

Wickham said it could even be a case of mistaken identity as there is a pitbull within a two to three block area that runs loose and resembles Spike, who will turn 2 years old this fall.

Police Chief David Ortolano is all too familiar with cases involving pitbulls and upset neighbors.

"When you have those issues, especially with a lot of kids in a neighborhood, we take it very seriously. We have to make sure we do what we can to keep neighborhoods safe," he said. "I encourage dog owners to make sure they have proper chains to make sure that their dogs are unable to get loose. We take these seriously. We have a child that was bitten by this animal and that's why we are charging him. I am sure there are civil liabilities that go past the criminal case.

"The last case we had a while back with one of the dangerous dogs, they turned it over to us. The outcome could be one of many different things."

Troy Cooper is recovering just fine, according to his parents, although he is still leary about riding his bike too far from home.