Two more dog attacks after talk of raising fine

Two new recent dog attacks in the Calgary area come on the heels of bylaw services considering upping the fines for the offence.

Jann Vincent-Stevenson was walking her springer spaniel, Chopper, through a back alley Thursday in the 1100 block of Mayland Drive N.E. when a pit bull in an unfenced yard snapped its leash and attacked the dog’s neck.

The pit bull had to be beaten off with a broom, but then at- tacked the dog’s leg and the Vincent-Stevenson’s hand when she tried to intervene.

“He was not stopping, he was going to attack,” said Vincent-Stevenson, a worker in the reader sales department at the Calgary Herald. “This is terrifying, absolutely terrifying.”

She said the dog ran back to its house and the owner let it inside.

Police and animal bylaw services were called and confiscated the dog, said duty inspector Paul Stacey.

Vincent-Stevenson said she will probably need a few stitches to close a puncture wound; her dog should be fine.

There have been prominent dog attacks lately, and has caused bylaw services to reconsider its $1,500 maximum fine, potentially upping the figure to $10,000.

Meanwhile in Chestermere, an 11-year-old boy was bitten above the eye by the family dog and was treated with several stitches. The seven-and-a-halfyear-old mixed breed dog was taken to a veterinary clinic and euthanized.