Two Children Hurt In Dog Attacks Animals Turned Over To County Authorities

Two young children were hospitalized after being mauled by dogs this week in separate Spokane Valley attacks.

Taylor Trader, 10, was nearly killed Wednesday night by a black lab mix that attacked him while the boy was playing with a next-door neighbor, county animal control officials said.

A 16-year-old boy managed to kick and pull the dog away from Trader after it ripped several large gashes in his right leg, face and neck. Trader was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Chanelle Vassar, 5, was bitten in the face by a chow about noon Thursday. Vassar also was taken by ambulance to Sacred Heart, where she was being treated for puncture wounds on either side of her nose and a torn right eyelid, said her father, John Vassar.

Both underwent surgery to repair their wounds and were released.

Trader was playing at 18322 E. Mission when he was bitten about 7 p.m.

Animal control Officer Sheri Kent, who investigated the attack, said Trader was bitten after he petted the dog on the head and turned away. A neighbor boy, who was holding the dog known as Bo by the collar, lost control of it, and the dog attacked Trader from behind.

Kenneth Young, who lives at the house where the attack occurred, saw the dog knock the boy down and ran outside to help him. Young kicked and tugged at the dog before finally pulling it off of Trader, who was bleeding from bites on his leg, face and neck.

Two of the bites on Trader’s right leg were severe, the worst one ripping a 3-by-5-inch gash on his upper right calf that tore through the muscle, Kent said.

“If (Young) hadn’t been there to pull the dog off, it probably would have been a fatal attack,” Kent said.

The dog’s owner, Lori L. Walsh, 37, was given a misdemeanor citation for having a dog that exhibits vicious propensities. Kent seized the dog.

“The owner was so amazed at what the dog had done to the boy that she was afraid of her own dog,” said animal control Director Nancy Sattin.

Vassar was attacked when a neighbor’s dog jumped or crawled under two fences Thursday morning and bit the girl while she played in her back yard, said animal control Officer Jennifer Kline.

The dog’s owner, Trina Fleisher of 1522 N. Park, agreed to turn her dog over to animal control to be euthanized and was not cited, Kline said.

Both dogs are being held at the county animal control shelter during a 10-day rabies quarantine period. Walsh’s dog also could be euthanized if she cannot meet strict housing requirements for owning a dangerous dog.

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