Crime & Safety

Pit Bull Attacks Therapist During Home Visit

Client confined her daughter's dog during therapy session but then asked to bring it out. It leaped upon Wauwatosa woman who had to lock herself in bathroom to escape.

A Wauwatosa woman who works as a visiting physical therapist for Horizon Healthcare reported last Monday that while she was at the home of a client in the 2200 block of North 73rd Street, she was attacked and badly bitten by a dog the client was watching for her daughter.

The dog had been shut in the bedroom during most of the therapy session, whining and barking the whole, time, until finally the client asked if it would be all right to let it out.

The therapist said it would be OK, but her client warned her to keep her hands up and away from the dog. She then let the dog, a 3-year-old American pit bull, out of the bedroom.

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The dog approached the therapist calmly but then without the least warning leaped up and sank its teeth into her arm. The victim jumped backward and was able to break free of the dog, but it lunged again and bit her in the calf.

She was again able to escape and barricaded herself in the bathroom while her client corralled the animal.

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The victim suffered puncture wounds in both her arm and leg. She was treated for her injuries at Froedtert Hospital and was vaccinated against rabies after it was learned that the dog was not up to date on its rabies shots. The dog was ordered quarantined.

The dog's owner said it had been friendly to all when it was adopted as a puppy but after it matured to about two years old, it had become extremely protective of family members.


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