By LYDIA WARREN
A man bit a dog to stop it attacking his wife after the animal tore off her nose in a vicious attack. Laine Henry came to the defense of his wife Caren after the 50-pound Labrador retriever mix launched at her as they enjoyed a stroll with their pet beagle in Madrid, Iowa on Sunday. The black-and-white animal, which had bounded out from a nearby yard, sunk its teeth into the woman's right thigh, before biting her stomach and going for her face. She recalled how it scratched at her eyes and broke her sunglasses - which she believes saves her sight - before clamping down on her nose and ripping it from her face.
The dog then turned its attack on the couple's pet, biting the animal's side. Mr Henry lunged for the dogs and tried to pry the Labrador retriever's jaws open so that it would drop the beagle, and the dog bit Mr Henry's arm. Again, it would not let go. In a bizarre move, Mr Henry then bit down on the dog's nose - forcing the animal to release its jaws, the couple told the Des Moines Register. The Henrys jumped in their truck and drove to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Mr Henry suffered a dog bite to his arm, which became infected, and received treatment.
But there's a longer road ahead for his wife, who has already undergone one surgery. Doctors will use skin from her forehead and elsewhere and cartilage from her ear to rebuild her nose. 'We took pictures at the hospital, and it was the most grotesque things I've ever seen,' the family's attorney Ryan Beattie told the Register. 'There's just a hole where a nose should be.' But speaking from her hospital bed, Mrs Henry managed to stay upbeat.
'It could have been so much worse,' she said. 'If I hadn't been wearing my sunglasses, I'm sure I would be missing an eye. If it had gotten hold of my throat, I'd be dead.' The Henrys' dog recovered from the attack and has even visited his owners in hospital. But the other dog is under quarantine as authorities try to determine who is responsible for it. The county does not have a vicious dog ordinance that would seek charges for the dog's owner and potentially lead to the animal being put down, the Register reported.
The animal will be under quarantine for six weeks and then released to its owner. It is currently staying at the home from where it was seen running. The man looking after the animal, Marcus Johnson, said it belongs to a local homeless man, Thomas Goodson, but said he occasionally takes the dog in to feed him. He claimed that the dog does not stay with him on a regular basis, which neighbors disputed. The Henrys said they had a lucky escape and fear what the threat the animal poses. 'I just can't imagine if this dog had gotten ahold of a little kid,' Mrs Henry said. 'It's just scary that this dog is on the loose.'
