Two dogs were seized and put under quarantine in La Mesa early Thursday after they escaped from a backyard kennel, jumped over a fence and attacked a mother pushing a 2-year-old boy in a stroller.

The attack by the two Rottweilers occurred around 8:15 a.m. as the woman was walking with two children on Waite Drive near 69th Street, police said.

After the dogs got free of their yard, they crossed the street and immediately attacked the boy in the stroller. The woman was trying to pull the stroller away when one of the dogs jumped up on her, knocked her to the ground and began to bite her. The other dog continued to attack her son.

Neighbors and the owner of the dogs heard the commotion and rushed to the family’s aid. The dogs’ owner managed to pull the dogs off the woman and her child and he put the dogs in his backyard, said police Lt. Brian Stoney.


Both victims were taken to the hospital by paramedics with injuries considered serious but not life-threatening.

The woman suffered several puncture wounds on her arm, while the 2-year-old suffered bite wounds to his head, face and arm and he will undergo surgery on his arm, police said. The woman’s 8-year-old daughter was not injured.

Both of the dogs were seized and taken to the El Cajon animal shelter to be quarantined, police said.

Stoney said the incident will be investigated by La Mesa police and the city of La Mesa’s animal control department.


Twitter: @karenkucher


(619) 293-1350

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com