Woman at risk of losing her arm after being attacked by dog her son rescued, brought home

A woman in Michigan was seriously injured and is at the risk of a losing an arm after a dog her son brought home attacked her and dragged her out of the house onto the front yard.

Norton Shores Professional Firefighters, in a post on social media Monday afternoon, said that they responded to a "report of an individual found down with traumatic dog bite injuries and both dogs still inside the fence next to the individual."

Officers who arrived at the scene, including medical personnel, were able to retrieve the individual and "temporarily contain both dogs humanely," said the agency. Pound Buddies, a community animal rescue service serving Muskegon County, Michigan, also arrived on scene to help control the dogs.

Patient received extensive injuries, was semi-conscious, says Norton Shores Fire Chief

Norton Shores Fire Chief Bob Gagnon told USA TODAY that the call for a subject being attacked by a dog came around 9:30 a.m. Monday. Gagnon said that a passerby had seen two dogs attacking a woman in the front yard and alerted authorities.

"When our crews arrived on the scene, they found the subject lying face down in the front yard, being attacked by the dog," Gagnon said.

The fire chief said that removing the woman from the dogs' grasp was challenging because the dogs were also aggressive towards the police officers and firefighters. While they were eventually able to successfully pull the animals away from the woman, it was not before the woman was seriously injured.

"We found a patient with extensive injuries to the arm and the patient was semi-conscious," Gagnon said. "The extent of the injuries were so severe that we're pretty certain that they're probably not going to be able to save the arm."

"I don't know for sure, but it does not look very good," Gagnon said, adding that the woman is still at the hospital.

The victim's age and identity have not yet been revealed.

Dog brought home by son

Gagnon explained the victim's son had brought home the dog, a Rottweiler, that attacked his mother. The fire chief said that the victim's son had spotted the dog chained up outside his workplace and decided to bring it home to care for it, adding it is likely that the dog was abandoned.

It is not immediately clear how long the dog was at the victim's house before attacking the woman. Meanwhile, the other dog, also a Rottweiler, was the victim's pet. Gagnon said that the pet was not involved in the attack. However, both dogs were taken in by Pound Buddies.

"I don't know what timeframe between the time that he brought the dog to the time that this accident happened," Gagnon said. "It could be days, but the dog just became very aggressive and attacked his mother. The dog actually drove the mother out into the front yard."

Pound Buddies Executive Director Lana Carson told USA TODAY that the dog that attacked the woman had to "unfortunately be euthanized," because it would be a risk to let it back into society.

The other dog, however, continues to remain at the shelter, said Carson, as they wait to hear back from the victim's family.

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'Worst dog attack'

Gagnon said that the woman was alone at home when the accident happened, and the son was not home. Had the passerby not alerted authorities, no one would have known about the attack, Gagnon said. No contact has been made with the son on the incident.

"As a firefighter, you prepare for anything in this job. But certainly, in my 30-plus years as a firefighter, that's probably the worst dog attack that I've ever witnessed," Gagnon said. "It's definitely going to take a toll on her [the victim's] family and, you know, that's the kind of stuff that weighs pretty heavy even on our firefighters."

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.