Dog attacks girl, 6, at Ochoco Reservoir, still free

“It bit me and scratched me and bit me a few more times,” 6-year old Kaylee said.

It is a day she will not forget. Kaylee and her family were at Ochoco Reservoir when a dog attacked her.

She and her 8-year old brother Kaiden say the dog owner dropped a water bottle and asked Kaylee if she could hand it to her.

“When I handed it to her, the dog jumped up and attacked me,” Kaylee said Tuesday.

“Kaylee got knocked down, and then the dogs jumped on her and both started fighting,” Kaiden said.

Although her brother was scared, he did not run. He pulled Kaylee out from underneath the two dogs.

“I was just really scared,” said Kaylee’s mom, Jenni Carver-Ross. “And in the ER, she kept saying she thought she was going to die. She was very frightened. And she kept saying she wanted to go to heaven because it hurt so bad. It’s really hard to see your child like that.”

Luckily, the dog, a pit bull, missed arteries and nerves, so Kaylee can still move her hand.

Her parents said they were shocked when the dog was not taken into quarantine by law enforcement.

“To leave that dog to attack another child or person,” Carver-Ross said.

The Crook County Sheriff’s Office cited the dog owner for public nuisance.
Sgt. James Savage said because of Kaylee’s injuries, their hands were tied.

“It’s frustrating. We have to operate under the statute and the definition of the statute,” Savage said.

According to the Oregon statutes: http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/609.098

A dangerous dog is qualified as a dog that “without provocation and in an aggressive manner inflicts serious physical injury (…) on a person or kills a person”.

Kaylee’s injuries do not qualify as serious physical injuries, which are defined as follows: http://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/161.015

“A substantial risk of death (…) or impairment of the function of any bodily organs.”

In other words, if the dog had severed a nerve in Kaylee’s arm, the police would be able to quarantine the animal.

“It’s frustrating but that’s kind of the box we have to operate in. I feel for bad for the family and obviously the child,” Savage said.

Kaylee and Kaiden said they are scared to go back to the Ochoco Reservoir, but even after this incident, Kaylee still loves dogs.

“Not all dogs are mean,” Kaylee said.