Concerns raised about local dog rescue after four-year-old attacked

Bryant Campbell’s stomach dropped when he saw his wife run into his house with his crying four-year-old daughter.

Ten stitches and a bruised right arm later, Bronwyn Campbell was still shaken up after being attacked by her neighbour’s newly adopted dog.

Babas, called Babs for short, a Great Dane-Mastiff cross, was adopted in early May by Chrissy Pongracz from Bright Eyes Dog Rescue (BEDR).

BEDR officials said they informed Pongracz prior to adopting that the dog had a violent past and should not come into contact with any children.

“In this situation, this dog was advertised as a non-friendly dog towards children, so not good with children,” said Melissa Walliser, director of fosters with BEDR. “It was advertised when he went up for adoption that he can’t go to a home or be interacting with children.”

But Pongracz said the rescue hardly communicated with her, beyond a couple of emails notifying her of the progress of the adoption and providing her with information to contact Babs’ foster family.

Pongracz also received an advertised biography about the dog prior to completing the adoption.

The ad called Babs a “gentle giant” and stated he would “love a forever home with older (teenaged) kids and someone strong to take him for walks.” It also advertised that Babs did not interact well with dogs close to his size.

“They have never told me that he was violent in any way,” Pongracz said.

The process to adopt Babs only took a few days.

Pongracz is no stranger to dogs. The owner of Hair of the Dog Pet Salon in Esterhazy, Pongracz has fostered many dogs in the past and works with them every day.

When Pongracz brought Babs home, she informed the family next door that the dog was a rescue.

“I took two weeks before I even let the kids come into any kind of contact with him,” Pongracz said. “I said I want to learn what he’s like first (and) watch him.”

Campbell said his family did exactly as Pongracz asked, staying away from their neighbour’s yard and the dog until, after two weeks, Pongracz said they could finally meet Babs.

The dog was reportedly adjusting well and showing no concerning signs, even while Campbell’s children played in their yard next door.

“He was doing really well over there so they decided we could start visiting with our neighbour again and very slowly introduce our children to this dog,” Campbell said.

Campbell said his kids had been visiting with the dog in very controlled environments with adults present for about two weeks when the attack occurred.

“(The dog) was really good with our kids anytime we were over there,” Campbell said. “We always had adults there (and) made sure our kids were well-behaved around the dog and the dog was well-behaved around the kids.”

Campbell said his kids would pet the dog and play fetch with him. He said the dog never showed any signs of aggression towards anyone prior to the attack.

“There were no red flags,” Pongracz agreed. “There was nothing to say, ‘Oh, he didn’t like that. We better step back a bit.’ “

That changed on June 4.

Attack without warning

That afternoon, Campbell’s wife was visiting with their neighbour and another woman, along with Bronwyn and Babs.

“Bronwyn had gotten up and she just gently touched Babs on the back as she was walking,” Pongracz explained. “He just lunged at her.”

“The dog turned on her, grabbed her by the arm and shook her three or four times,” Bryant Campbell said.

The three women started shouting at the dog until he let go of the young girl.

“It seemed to just come out of nowhere,” Pongracz said.

The attack lasted for somewhere between five and 10 seconds. Pongracz quickly took Babs inside the house and placed him inside his kennel.

Campbell said Bronwyn was “terrified” and “in shock” after the incident.

The four-year-old sustained bruises on her right hand and wounds on her right arm. Sutures were required to close two large cuts on her arm that showed exposed fatty tissue and muscle.

After the attack, Pongracz surrendered the dog back to BEDR and the Public Health Office was notified of the incident. The dog was then placed under watch for 10 days to monitor for rabies. He was placed under behavioural hold, according to Walliser.

Campbell contacted BEDR to find out what would happen to the animal. He said he was shocked to learn the rescue intended to rehome the dog.

“That was my main concern because knowing it was at this rescue, I wanted to make sure that this dog would be destroyed,” Campbell said.

“He’s a 150-pound Great Dane-Mastiff cross that attacked a four-year-old girl and if there hadn’t been three adults there it probably would have been a very different story.”

Rehoming violent dogs

Walliser said the rescue did its due diligence.

“In our opinion, that bite was provoked because we made it aware that he wasn’t great with children,” Walliser said. “He was never violent in our care.”

Walliser said the rescue’s policy for adopting dogs with a history of violence includes clearly informing the owner of the dog’s needs and restrictions based on what is known about the animal. BEDR will also trial dogs with prospective families before officially completing the adoption process.

The rescue will work with the dogs it receives on issues such as food and toy aggression. Dogs at BEDR who need additional training will be assessed by a trainer and assigned a training program to work with the canine until they are adopted.

In the past, BEDR has had to rehome dogs a second time after a violent incident in their initial homes. Walliser said these dogs are usually able to find a forever home the second time.

Only in very extreme circumstances will a dog be put down by the rescue.

“The dog was put in a situation that isn’t fair to him because the adults knew about his needs and they went against our advice,” Walliser said.

A trainer worked with Babs after the incident to assess his behaviour. The dog has since been put down.

“Since our interview, we continued with our protocol of having Babas work with a trainer for assessment,” Walliser said in an email.

“After continued consultation, the incredibly difficult decision to euthanize him was made by the (Bright Eyes} board. His change in behaviour was drastic, sudden and without probable reason.”

Walliser said the board concluded these attributes made Babs a danger to those around him.

Father wanted ‘violent’ dog put down

Campbell didn’t agree with BEDR’s decision to rehome the dog.

“(They were) going to rehome this dog after it bit a child … and they (had) no problem with it,” Campbell said. “I said the dog should be put down because he’s violent … A dog is a dog. It bit a human and it (would) do it again.”

Pongracz shared similar concerns.

“I work with dogs every single day and they want to give you warning signs (before they attack). They want to tell you, ‘I don’t like that,’ ” she explained. “But there was nothing. He instantly just lunged at (Bronwyn).”

That made Pongracz believe Babs was an “accident waiting to happen.”

“I didn’t let him get his way, so even going into a home with no kids, if someone is not going to take that leadership role with him, he would take it. And I don’t think that he would necessarily stop at kids if he needed to be the boss,” Pongracz said.

Pongracz also was concerned over the lack of communication she received from BEDR, both before adopting Babs and after surrendering him back to the rescue.

“The only thing that I got on Babs was the write-up that was put on the internet about him,” Pongracz said.

She said she understood Babs was “not good with kids,” but did not take that to mean he had violent tendencies.

“That leaves a really broad spectrum to me on 130-pound Great Dane not being good with kids because he could knock them over, he could pull them, he could sit on them,” Pongracz explained.

“There was no phone call (after the attack) to see what the situation was, what actually had happened. They just wanted to say, ‘OK, we told you that he wasn’t good with kids and you put him in line with kids and that’s that, so it’s your fault.’ “

Pongracz said she also learned of a previous non-serious incident with Babs prior to adopting him, which occurred while he was living with his foster family.

“There was an instance where, in the morning, (Babs) was on the bed with the parents and the son had come to pet him or do something on the bed and Babs snapped at him and caught his hand,” Pongracz said.

However, the family did not seem concerned over the incident.

“She made it sound like it was more being possessive over where he was on the bed,” Pongracz explained. “That same boy was there when they were dropping Babs off and he was hugging him and petting him and so it didn’t seem like it was a big issue.”

Walliser said BEDR considers the fosters to be members of the rescue and its primary source of information on the dog’s behaviour, as they are the ones who have spent the most time with a dog before its adoption.

“Regardless of the circumstances, if I hear a dog is not good with kids, period, he should not be with kids,” Walliser said.

Regarding the situation with Babs’ foster family prior to his adoption, Walliser said she understood the dog to not be feeling well that day. The incident, she said, was something the rescue felt stemmed from this.

Knowing what she does now, Pongracz is disappointed in the rescue’s failure to fully disclose the pertinent behavioural information about the dog.

“If they had known something more than what they put on that form, it could have drastically changed Babs’ life and Bronwyn’s,” Pongracz said.