Grandmother, child injured in dog attack

Twelve-year-old hospitalized, 89-year-old in critical condition after mauling by pit bulls

She didn’t know much about her new neighbors across the street, but when she heard screaming outside her door, she knew enough to call 911 to help the hysterical child running her way.

The 12-year-old boy had been attacked by the family’s dogs, and then they jumped on his grandmother, who had just brought the boy and his sister home from school, the neighbor said.

“He was covered with blood. I tried to calm him down. He was screaming so loudly the 911 operator couldn’t (hear) my directions to the home,” said the neighbor, who would only be identified as “Louise.”

When police arrived, they said the pit bulls were still on top of the 89-year-old, but she was alive. Golden police Sgt. Ben Salentine said the officers acted as “human shields while the dogs circled them trying to get back at the woman.”

Golden police said the original call came in as a dog bite, but when they arrived at the home, they followed a trail of blood leading to the backyard where the elderly woman was being mauled. Louise said the entire street was closed down and filled with ambulances and police officers. Salentine said it was an emotional scene, and the child was in bad condition.

“I don’t know what would have happened if the neighbor had not called. We depend on the community for that,” he said.

The names of the victims have not been released. Police said there had been no official complaints about the animals since the family had moved into their home in the 15000 block of West First Drive.

The elderly woman is in critical condition at St. Anthony North Hospital following emergency surgery. The boy is at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and one dog has been euthanized following the attack Wednesday.

None of the responding officers involved were physically injured, according to police.

Golden’s Foothills Animal Shelter confirmed that one of the dogs is being confined there pending further investigation. The other was euthanized Wednesday night because it had severe head and abdominal injuries, which police said happened in the aftermath of the attack. Salentine would not say who was responsible for the dogs, but added that “they were not strange to the home.”

He said investigators want to know exactly who owned the dogs, and whether there was any history of destructive behavior. Louise said the family had only moved in a month ago and that she’d never seen the two dogs outside.

Pit bulls have had a controversial reputation as a breed, and were outlawed in Denver for 31 years. The ban was lifted there in January 2021, but Golden doesn’t prohibit any dog breed, according to the laws on the city’s website.

Advocates of the breed insist it’s the owners who are the problem, not the dog.

“The story here is what led the dogs to this behavior,” said David Edelstein, owner of Team Pit-A-Full Dog Training and who owns four pit bulls as pets.

“The domestic dog is hard-wired not to attack people. What I want to know is, who was on the other end of that leash?” asked Edelstein.

He said there are eight different pit bull subset breeds and that the three major three breeds are American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers. It’s not known exactly which one was associated with the Golden attacks.

Salentine said this has been a terrible situation and that their hearts go out to the family, the community and to the animals.