'He was shaking her like a rag doll': Regina woman describes dog attack on child

A Regina woman said she had to act quickly when a dog, that was familiar to her family, appeared to attack a child without provocation.

"She bent down to pick up a glove off the floor [and] the dog went after her," Ida Peters said Sunday, two days after the attack. "And then I jumped in and saved my granddaughter."

I don't know why the dog turned on us.- Ida Peters

Peters said the girl is feeling better and is out of hospital, adding that "her head is still sore."

"He was shaking her like a rag doll," Peters added.

"The dog took her by the ponytail and shook her, and I stepped in," she said. "I took a stick and tried to crack the dog on the head but he just bit me harder."

Peters needed 32 stitches to close the wounds on her hand and said she may need a skin graft.

"I finally pried him off of my granddaughter and she ran to the neighbour," she said. The people in that home helped the child until police and ambulance crews arrived.

Peters said police and animal control officers were able to remove the dog from the basement. She believes a tranquillizer was used to make the animal docile.

Peters said the dog had been with the family since it was six weeks old and she was unsure why the animal bit the girl.

• Girl, 7, and grandmother, 52, in hospital after Regina dog attack

"I don't know why the dog turned on us," she said, noting the dog is three years old and had never attacked anyone in the past.

"They trained it to be good with all of us from day one when they got him," Peters said. "He was OK for a long time, until [Friday]. He just came after us I don't know what flicked him."

It was not immediately clear what will become of the animal, which police said weighs 60 to 80 pounds, or 27 to 36 kilograms. One family member said Friday that the dog would likely be put down.

Peters said she believes it was a random act by the dog and, while she does not plan on having any large animals in her home, she is OK if the owners want to keep it.

"If they want to keep their dog, that's up to them," she said. "I'll never have another dog like that in my house, not after what he did."

After the incident on Friday, a notice was posted to the door of the homeindicating the dog had been seized and would be quarantined for a while.

Police said Friday that they were not investigating the case any further. There could be a follow up by animal control officers.