J.D. Gallop

FLORIDA TODAY

It started with what Palm Bay police described as 'bad blood' between a pair of dogs and a next-door neighbor and ended with the neighbor being bitten and his wife fending off the animals with a machete.

The man - with puncture wounds to the leg - was not seriously injured while the dogs, both boxers, were confined to the house in a ten-day quarantine imposed by Brevard County Animal Services.

The incident happened about 12:40 p.m. Sunday in the 500 block of Balcolm Terrace.

"The dogs saw the neighbor talking to their owner and they bolted out of the door. There may have been some bad blood between them, the neighbor may have chased them in the past or some other issue. For some reason they didn't like the guy," said Sgt. Brian Kerr of the Palm Bay Police Department.

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"The dogs bit the neighbor and his wife saw it, grabbed a machete out of the garage and started taking a swing. She thought she may have hit them but the dogs were fine. The dogs went back inside. The neighbor was bitten on the leg but it was nothing serious," Kerr said.

Officers arrived at the home within minutes. Animal Services officers ordered the dogs to be quarantined for ten days but did not take them into custody. An investigation is ongoing.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com and Twitter@JDGallop