Animal control seizes 'dangerous' dog after second reported attack

BATON ROUGE - A dog living in the Sherwood Forest area was seized by animal control Sunday after residents reported a second incident where it attacked another dog and injured the dog's owner. A couple of residents contacted 2 On Your Side and Brittany Weiss spoke with one of the victims, Scott Bollich.

"Saturday I brought my dog out to go to the bathroom and get the newspaper," said Bollich. "Never saw the dog, he came up from behind me between my legs. I got knocked over and he got my dog in his jaws at the same time."

According to Bollich, the attack lasted for a few minutes as he wrestled with the dog to let go of his Shih Tzu, Newman. Photos taken after the incident show blood on Bollich and his dog.

"I'm hoarse right now because I was screaming bloody murder for help," he said.

Bollich's son and a neighbor heard the screams and rushed to help. It took the three men to overpower the other dog and set Newman loose. One of Bollich's fingers was bit and Newman is recovering at the LSU Vet Hospital.

Bollich says the dog that attacked is no stranger to the neighborhood and a few months ago attacked another dog up the street.

Last Tuesday, Ted Mostert says he was in court for that incident in which his 14-week-old Aussiedoodle was attacked by the same dog. Mostert described how the dog went for his dog's neck and bit through his ear. He tells WBRZ he reported then that there were holes in the fence where the dog lived and he likely escaped through one of those openings.

The dog owner, Johnathan Reed, was not charged but instead issued a continuance to get the dog vaccinated and registered. Four days later, Bollich's dog was attacked.

Monday morning, the holes in the homeowner's fence are still there. Animal control says the dog it has in its possession is a pit bull and that he is now being held for its 10-day rabies observation.

Director Hilton Cole says the dog will be categorized as dangerous, which the dog owner can accept along with the terms and have the dog back, appeal the categorization, or surrender the dog to animal control. Cole says the dog owner did break the City-Parish ordinance and animal control is currently having trouble getting in touch with him.

Cole says the dog was found Sunday at another residence, which the owner took there.