Another Metro Vancouver dog owner seeking justice after off-leash dog attack

A woman in Surrey is speaking out after she says a large off-leash dog attacked her and her dog in a common hallway in their Cloverdale apartment building.

Alisha Wilson said it happened Wednesday as she was taking her 18-month-old pomeranian Luna out for a walk.

According to Wilson, while in the hallway, a neighbour's dog ran out of an open apartment door and attacked Luna.

She said as she attempted to intervene, the aggressive dog turned on her, biting her face and leaving her with wounds on the inside of her lip.

"When I was being attacked it was grabbing all of my clothes, so my clothes were completely torn all the way down the side," she said. "And I was trying to push her up as far as I could to get her away from the dog."

Wilson rushed Luna to an emergency vet, where she underwent surgery to repair significant wounds to one of her hind feet.

The bill came to more than $2,300.

Wilson said she also required medical treatment at an emergency room for her injuries.

According to Wilson, in the days that followed the attack, she observed the same neighbour's door open on a number of occasions, and she says the neighbour told her after the dog attacked her it also attacked a cat in the building.

"That's absolutely ridiculous. There's a baby that lives down the hall. Lots of people have dogs and kids," she said. "And these people are not taking their dog's safety or anybody else's safety seriously, at all."

Wilson said she reported the incident to animal services at the City of Surrey immediately after seeking medical care for her dog on Wednesday, but she did not hear from investigators until Monday.

The city says the investigation is ongoing.

Wilson also made her property manager aware of what happened but is unsure what action it could take against her neighbour.

The attack on Wilson and Luna is one of several CTV News has covered in the past month.

On July 30, Goldie, a five-year-old doodle was in a fenced off-leash area in Stanley Park when her owner, Bugra Firat, says she was attacked by another dog who bit her throat.

Goldie required emergency surgery at the vet to close several puncture wounds and was left with a pair of drain tubes in her neck to prevent infection.

The City of Vancouver says its animal control officers are still trying to identify the owner of the other dog involved in the attack.

Firat said he exchanged phone numbers with that man on the day of the attack.

On August 1, CTV News was able to reach a man at the same number who identified himself as Dio and confirmed his dog had been involved in the incident.

He characterized it as a dog fight rather than an attack and said he didn’t feel he should be obligated to cover Goldie’s vet bill.

“I don’t think it’s fair because it was not just my dog’s fault,” Dio said.

He went on to tell CTV News that his dog was also injured and required veterinary care at a cost of $300.

Although he agreed to send CTV News photos of his dog’s alleged injuries, he never did.

It’s not clear why animal control officers with the city have failed to identify the man given the information provided by Firat.

The identity of a woman involved in another dog attack in Stanley Park, near Second Beach, which resulted in the death of Sky, a three-year-old maltipoo, also remains unknown.

In that case, the large dog who mauled Sky was loose until a woman leashed him and fled the area without providing any identifying information.

Sky’s owners have set up a Facebook page hoping someone can identify the woman – and have even offered a $5,000 reward.