Sask. father describes alleged dog attack on daughter

A Saskatchewan man is pushing for a neighbour’s dogs to be considered dangerous after his nine-year-old daughter was bitten on the leg before her first day of school.

Kipp Sakundiak, from Grasswood, alleged he stopped at the home on the morning of Sept. 5 to ask lawyer Bob Kirkpatrick for help with community opposition to a local development.

He said a younger girl answered the door, along with two Bernese mountain dogs.

“(The girl) tried to shimmy through the front door, but one of the dogs got the muzzle in and pushed right past,” Sakundiak told 650 CKOM.

He claims the dogs ran towards his daughter, who had gotten out of the truck, and began attacking her.

Sakundiak said the first dog leapt at his daughter as she turned her back.

“He mowed her to the ground. I saw her head hit the ground. It was like it was happening in slow motion.”

After the initial leap, the dog allegedly went to clamp its jaw over the girl’s head.

“I, fortunately, was right on top of him,” Sakundiak said.

He remembered grabbing the large dog by the throat and “hucking” it about ten feet away from his daughter.

“I am out of my mind, I am losing it on this animal,” he said. “I am thinking, ‘You are not going to hurt my little girl.'”

As Sakundiak pushed the dog away, he said another got a hold of his daughter’s leg.

“I stuck my finger in his eye, and it immediately stunned him. He released the bite,” he said.

Sakundiak claimed he took the dog inside the home and slammed the door shut. As he turned around, he saw the girl who answered the door wrestling with the first dog.

“She had her legs wrapped around the dog, and her arms wrapped around the head,” he described, adding his daughter and wife were screaming.

“My little girl thought the dog had bitten her leg right off,” he said. “It was something I never want to go through again.”

Kipp Sakundiak said his daughter sustained these bite wounds at a neighbouring home on Sept. 5, 2017. (Kipp Sakundiak/Submitted)

Sakundiak filed a complaint with Corman Park Police, who confirmed Friday they were looking into the incident under the dangerous animals section of the Municipalities Act.

Reached for an interview Thursday, the alleged dog owner Kirkpatrick said there was a “process underway,” but wouldn’t offer any comment.

According to a provincial information section on dangerous animals, Kirkpatrick will have the opportunity to refute allegations his dogs are dangerous in a provincial court hearing.

If the dogs are deemed dangerous, a judge can issue an order for any of the following precautions:

• Keep the animal in the house or outside in a locked enclosure of specific dimensions and construction. If the owner removes the animal from the enclosure, it must be securely leashed and humanely muzzled and kept under the owner’s control and supervision;
• Obtain and keep in effect a minimum of $300,000 liability insurance to cover damage or injury by the animal;
• Display a sign on the property visible from the street, warning of the presence of a dangerous animal;
• Comply with provisions of federal legislation regarding the control of rabies vaccinations for the animal;
• Notify a municipality if a dangerous animal is moved into that municipality.