A local woman is hoping to save her grandson several weeks’ worth of painful needles by tracking down the owner of a dog that bit him Friday afternoon.
Bonnie Buckley had taken her eight-year-old grandson on an after-school hike Friday on a trail off of Watson Road. They were about 20 minutes in when they met up with a woman and her black German shepherd. On Sunday, Buckley and the boy were in the hospital emergency department getting treatment for a dog bite and starting the rounds of shots for rabies.
“He had to begin his rabies needles, which are painful and plentiful, as we don’t have any proof of the dog being vaccinated,” said Buckley in an email to the Trib. She described the experience as “pretty emotional.”
The dog was a big, black shepherd, with big pointy ears and a red collar, she said. She believes it’s a male, because when her grandson asked permission to pet the animal, the woman said “No, because I’m still training him,” said Buckley.
She described the woman as in her late 40s or early 50s, and of average height. She had short, dark hair, and large eyeglasses that were prominent on her face.
“She had the dog on a leash, but she didn’t have the lead tight enough,” she said, explaining that as the boy went to pass, the dog lunged. It bit him in his side.
Now, needles are necessary because the woman and her dog ran off without waiting around to see if the boy was OK after the dog bit him, said Buckley. In the time it took to lift the boy’s shirt and discover that the bite had indeed broken the skin, the dog owner was gone, leaving no contact details.
“I spent most of the weekend back at the trail, watching and asking questions,” said Buckley.
She is hoping the woman will come forward to confirm that the dog has had its shots.
The young boy has already had three needles and will have to have a series of needles each week for the next 28 days, if they cannot locate the dog owner and confirm the animal has been vaccinated.
“He was in agony,” said Buckley, speaking of her grandson’s emergency room experience.
She is pleading with the woman to “do the right thing” and come forward. “We are desperate to ease some of the pain my grandson is having to endure.”