RIVERSIDE — A man said that a stray dog that his neighbors were trying to find a permanent home for attacked him.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the victim and his neighbors both think the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center (ARC) didn’t help until it was too late.
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Chris Almarji and Clover Lawson told News Center 7’s Taylor Robertson that the dog showed up at their family member’s house on Obie Street late last month.
They said the dog would get aggressive at times. They decided to lure the dog into their backyard to keep him away from neighbors.
“We tried calling rescues. Every rescue we called either says they can only take from the shelter or they’re full and they’re not taking anyone,” Almarji said.
Almarji said they think the dog’s name is Peanut Butter.
Not long after they got the dog in their backyard, he tried to bite him.
That’s when Almarji said he called the Montgomery County ARC.
“No one answered the phone. I left them a voicemail telling them he got aggressive, he tried to bite me. I can’t handle him, and he’s not fully contained back here. It’s like I couldn’t get a collar on him, that’s why he tried to bite me the first time,” he said.
Lawson said they were home when ARC showed up a few days after they called.
“She essentially said verbatim that it was a courtesy that they came out and that there was nothing that they could do,” Lawson said.
Kara Hamby, the Public Information Officer with ARC, said they were not aware the dog was aggressive until Saturday.
News Center 7 obtained a report from ARC that shows officers were called to Sanford Place Saturday night.
Peanut Butter broke through the fence in the backyard and attacked the couple’s neighbor, Charles Leonhardt, in his driveway.
“It came underneath the fence, I tried to, like, stop it because I didn’t know what to do, really. It’s a giant Pitbull that looks like it’s going to try to kill me, and it was, in fact, trying to kill me. It latched onto my wrist, and I felt it puncture like my wrist really deeply,” Leonhardt said.
ARC’s website states that there are several things people can do if they find a loose dog.
They suggest people check for a dog license or chip first, talk to their neighbors, and check social media to see if anyone is missing their pet.
The organization said that if no shelters will take the dog, and the finder can’t keep it, call them for help.
Lawson and Almarji said they did all of that, but ARC didn’t help until the dog got violent.
“I understand that there are, you know, limitations to what you can do, but it’s just, there’s it needs to be changed,” Lawson said.
Leonhardt and the couple both said they want more support from ARC in situations like this.
ARC said an animal control officer took Peanut Butter, and he remains at the resource center.
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