I was about 3 years old when I saw the first dog bite. My brother and I were outside our house and playing in the front yard. Our dog was lying on the lawn, sleeping in the sun. I seem to remember that the dog had been given to my father by someone he knew, fellow worker or neighbor, I can't say. It was a chow and I don't know what its name was, so it was probably fairly new to our family. My brother decided we should cover up the dog with whatever we could find to do so. We were placing leaves and maybe little branches or pieces of grass on top of the sleeping dog. I had stepped away, most likely to find another piece to apply to the animal, when suddenly the dog leapt up and bit my brother's face, right near his eye. Maybe he'd stepped on the dog's foot or maybe the dog just woke up and went into defense mode. The blood streamed down his face. My mother ran out and picked him up. I remember her standing in the driveway waiting for the mailman, (probably Billy O'Neill) to come to take him to the doctor, as we had no transportation or telephone. All went well, except for the dog. I don't know if Dr. Sproat stitched up his wound, which may still remain as a scar.
I have been bitten by dogs 3 times in my life, all during my childhood.
The first time was at a visit to a relative's house in the country. I may have been 7 or 8 years old. The adults were inside talking big people talk, and we kids were outside exploring the farmstead, accompanied by the friendly farm collie-shepherd. All was fine. When the time came to leave, all the adults came outside to see us off. I think my sister was already inside on the back seat of my father's car. I went to get in the open door to join her and had taken my first step in when the dog, who was standing by with its owners, leaped up and bit me in the forehead. It caused a bruise which bled some, and I remember I felt embarrassed to have been attacked by such a friendly dog. I remember the owner stopped by our house some time afterward to check on the bite. I was even more humiliated.
The second time of dog bite history happened a few years later when I was riding a bicycle, (either my brother's or one left by a neighbor boy for a period of time, as I never owned a bike until Dave gave me one as a present.) I rode down the sidewalk to the end of River Road, and was about to turn to head for home when a large tan great-dane type dog came running out of its yard from the house near the end of the sidewalk, and bit me in the leg, knocking me off the bike. The owner came out and retrieved the dog, but never followed up. Times were different back then.
The last, or maybe I should say latest, dogbite occurred several years later, when I was riding a bike on the road past the Catholic church. A mongrel, owned by the family who lived near the playground, ran out across the playground and into the street and bit my leg. I have a permanent bloodbruise on that leg. I don't think anybody was aware or notified. As I said, times were different then.
I won't expound on the last and most serious dog bite, as I've written about it before. In February of 1973, my 2 year-old son was attacked by a large German Shepherd on the porch of the Valley Falls Post Office, approached by the dog from behind and evidently with the intent to kill, as it knocked him down and made repeated bites on his head, stopping only when I turned the few steps back and yelled. The other dog bites I have enumerated were single bites, with each of the animals retreating, bite and run,one might say. This dog was actively intent on a kill, as the bites came fast and furious, and the surgeon used hundreds of stitches to close a number of wounds. The doctor said if this 22 lb. child had been bitten on any other part of his body with that force, from a dog weighing well over 100 lbs. that he would not have survived. The skull is made of strong bone.
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