Attack puts Lynn pooch owner on defensive

LYNN – Yet another alleged pit bull attack has occurred in the city of Lynn. This time, a Broadway woman said she got on all fours to fend off two pits that were attacking her Black Labrador-Blood Hound mix in the middle of Walnut Street on Wednesday afternoon.Animal lover Laurie George, 49, tended to her wounded and scarred pup “Midnight” in an interview at their home – tail between the animal’s legs the entire time. The one-year-old dog had six staples to close two large wounds she suffered at the hands of two alleged pit bulls.”Before I knew it, they were on her,” said George, who has owned two Labs in the past.George explained that Wednesday started out as any other day. As the sun shined, the dog and her master went on their daily stroll down Walnut Street before George planned to bring her pet to Holyoke Street where she works as a crossing guard for the Lincoln Thompson School.”What I do every afternoon before my crossing guard shift is I walk her,” George said. “A lot of kids looked forward to seeing her.”Their daily walk always includes a stop at the Walnut Street Café where Midnight gets a drink of water. George said they had begun to cross the street when she noticed a woman sitting on at an outdoor table holding two pit bulls on leashes.George hesitated then yelled to the woman from the middle of the street asking if the dogs would attack.”The lady said they were friendly,” she said.Within seconds of that statement, the alleged pit bulls launched their owner out of her chair.”Before I knew it, they were on us,” George said.The unidentified alleged pit bull owner initially held the dogs back from attacking when George said she asked, “Do you got them?”The woman answered “yes,” but, “she didn’t have them,” George said.Both pit bulls pounced on Midnight, but one dog did more damage than the other, according to George.With the pit bull owner standing nearby, George literally laid down over Midnight and shooed away the pit bulls.”I jumped right on her and pulled her away from the dog’s mouth,” George said. “I put myself literally on top of the dog.”After noticing Midnight had serious lacerations, George picked up her injured pooch and brought her inside the café, where an off-duty paramedic tended to the dog before the on-duty ambulance workers arrived. George also suffered cuts to her legs.”They were wicked nice,” she said.George said she was fuming after the attack because the pit bull owner wanted her dogs and Midnight to meet “face to face” after the ordeal. George’s dog had to undergo an additional rabies shot and is now on painkillers and antibiotics.”I don’t think she had any common sense,” George said.The woman, who George says has already had one pit bull banned from the city because of a previous attack, allegedly gave George a fake phone number.Luckily, Animal Control Officer Kevin Farnsworth responded to the incident and already knew who the woman was due to his previous dealings with her, George said.Despite the attack, George said she doesn’t favor a proposed city ordinance that would require dog owners to take out $25,000 of insurance.”A lot of it is the owners,” she said. “I know some people who have very nice pit bulls and some who don’t.”