Toddler Wanders Into Yard, Face Mauled by Chained Dog
The Winnipeg Sun, www.canoe.ca
By CP
August 1, 2004, SPANIARD'S BAY, Nfld. -- A dog attack that took just seconds has left a Newfoundland toddler in hospital with facial wounds his mother fears he may never fully recover from. Two-year-old Johnathan Mahoney-Marsh remained in hospital this weekend in St. John's after a stomach-turning incident Tuesday night.
The boy and his brother were being cared for by a babysitter who took the children with her to her brother's home.
While there, the youngsters wandered out of the caregiver's sight, and Johnathan strayed within reach of a German shepherd that was chained up in a neighbour's yard.
"I got the call at work to go and meet them at the Carbonear hospital," the boy's mother, Sonya Mahoney-Marsh, said from her home in Spaniard's Bay.
"When I got there and met with him, I was beside myself -- the only thing keeping his face together was a face cloth."
She said the right side of Johnathan's face has stitches on his mouth, cheek, below his ear, on his forehead and on his temple.
His mother also said Johnathan has bruising on his back, and his nails are blackened from scratching the pavement while trying to escape the dog's reach.
"I'd trade places with him (in) a heartbeat," she said.
RCMP Const. Steve Blackmore said because the dog was tethered on private property the animal's owners aren't facing charges.
However, he said they've voluntarily agreed to put down their pet.
"The owners did the right thing by having the dog tied on, but the problem really is that a child can wander and get within the dog's reach," Blackmore said.
Mahoney-Marsh, a single mother of three boys, said she's not able to spend as much time with her boy in hospital as she'd like.
"I can't stay in there because I've got two other kids, which is tearing the guts out of me," Mahoney-Marsh said.
"I'm calling around the clock to see how he is."
Johnathan is in satisfactory condition and is expected to leave hospital by Monday.
But his mother fears the damage may stretch beyond the remedy of cosmetic surgery.
"They said within a couple of years we could go back and see about plastic surgery, but it's a mortal sin," she said.
The major obstacle facing Johnathan right now, his mother said, is the infection from his wounds.
She said doctors told her they may have to reopen his wounds to drain infection and then restitch the cuts to prevent further complications.
