(Posted May 12, 2003)
Navan woman remains traumatized week after dog attack
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Erin McCallum poses for a picture with her dog Toby. The Navan resident is still recovering after being bitten in the face by a Rottweiller last Saturday in PIneview. Fred Sherwin/Photo

A chance encounter with a 130 lb. Rottweiler, has left a Navan woman potentially scarred for life both psychologically and physically.

Erin McCallum, 27, was visiting the home of her friend’s ex-boyfriend in Pineview last Saturday when she was bitten on the right side of her face by the man’s Rottweiller.

McCallum and her friend Sophie were dropping a bag of dog food off, when Sophie went out in the backyard to say hello to the dog which was chained to a post.

McCallum recalls the dog was excited at first but had calmed down when she mentioned to the owner that she was going to go into the backyard to join her friend and the Rottweiller.

“When I went into the backyard the dog was nice and calm. Then as I got close to him I just reached out my left hand so he could sniff it,” says McCallum.

What happened next came as a complete surprise to McCallum, who has been around dogs and horses all her life. She grew up with two Dobermans and has owned a large German Shepherd for several years.

In the split second the 5’10” McCallum reached out her hand, the dog jumped up from a standing position and bit the right side of her face.

“It happened so fast. He just lunged at me and grabbed the right side of my face. I pulled away and put my hand to my face. Sophie said, ‘What’s wrong?’, and I said, ‘I think he bit me.’ Then my hand started filling with blood and I thought, ‘Oh God. He bit me.’,” recalls McCallum.

Not knowing how bad the wound was, McCallum went back into the house to get a towel to cover her face. Within a couple of minutes the towel was soaked in blood. As she went to rinse the towel in the kitchen sink, a piece of her flesh fell into the sink as she was standing over it.

“When that happened I just started freaking out and yelled for them to call me an ambulance,” says McCallum.

Once she got to the hospital, the emergency staff debated whether or not to use stitches to close the gash below her eye. Fortunately, a plastic surgeon happened to be in the hospital and the emergency ward doctor decided to seek his advice rather than attempt to repair the wound himself.

“He said he could stitch it but he didn’t want to make it any worse,” says McCallum.

Dr. Murray Allen, eventually performed the preliminary work on her face, although she will likely have to undergo a number of procedures over the course of the next year. At the same time, she must avoid the sun as much as possible. During those times when exposure is unavoidable, she must wear an SPF 50 sunblock or higher.

As far as her appearance is concerned, Erin won’t know if she’ll be left permanently scarred for several months yet.

Just as worrisome as the damage to her face, has been the psychological effect of the attack.

“I haven’t been able to sleep more than four hours. Every time I close my eyes everything starts flooding back. I just keep seeing the dog jumping at my face,” says McCallum who knows some people may blame her for the attack. “I’ve been around dogs and other animals all my life. I know what signs to look for and I can say there was absolutely nothing about this dog that would have suggested he was going to bite me. He wasn’t growling. He wasn’t barking. He had a completely calm demeanor. He just snapped.”

The Navan resident lays the blame for the attack squarely at the feet of the owner.

“He’s told someone since that the dog doesn’t like strangers. Well, he didn’t say anything to me. When I told him I was going outside to see the dog, he didn’t say a word,” says McCallum, who wants others to learn from her misfortune. “Never approach a dog unless you’re with the owner, because you just don’t know what can happen.”

The dog that attacked McCallum is currently serving the last few days of a 10 day quarantine in the comfort of his master’s home at 1480 Beaverpond Dr. Because the dog was chained up at the time of the attack it is unlikely the owner will be charged or even fined, which only adds to McCallum’s frustration.

“The laws are screwed up. These animals are a lethal weapon. The owners should be licensed and the dogs registered just as if you were owning a gun,” says McCallum. “I think he should be fined and the dog taken away. This lasted two seconds and my face will never be the same. I didn’t need this. It never should have happened.”

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

An interesting side note to this story is that after being pulled over on Navan Road for driving too slow on Wednesday, she returned home a couple of hours later to find a bouquet of flowers sitting on her doorstep with a note.

As it turns out they were placed there by a sympathetic Cst. Peter Dawson, the police officer who had stopped her.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

Return to top

Return to Front Page