A dog that bit a child in Marshalltown last weekend has been labeled as vicious and is scheduled to be euthanized.

It is up to the city’s police chief to declare an animal vicious, a task Mike Tupper said he does not enjoy.

“I’ve been a police chief for 20 years, and I’ve had less than 10 dogs euthanized, and this is one of them,” he said. “I think it is appropriate for this dog to be euthanized.”

The child who was bitten, an 8-year-old boy, was taken to the UnityPoint Health-Marshalltown emergency room before being transferred to a Des Moines hospital on Sunday. His mother, Patricia Guadiana of Waterloo, said he was released from the hospital earlier this week. Guadiana said her son seems to be okay, and no infections were found.

The bite occurred in the Marshalltown backyard of Roxana Zazueta while Guadiana and her son were visiting. Zazueta said her neighbor’s pitbull mix crawled under the fence separating the properties. She said the child, who is also her nephew, and her 16-year-old son initially thought the dog was friendly.

“But then it ran for my nephew,” Zazueta said. “He ran and tried to jump over the fence to get away, but the dog caught him, bit his leg and latched on. My son choked and wrestled the dog until it let go, and threw it over the fence into the other yard.”

Guadiana said her son was very frightened by the incident and was panicking over the thought of losing his leg. She is scheduling follow-up medical care for stitches to be removed, along with an appointment with a therapist to evaluate his mental health.

“He did like dogs, but now he is saying he does not want one in the house,” Guadiana said. “I do know we will get him the psychological help he will need. I think it will be something that will change his life forever because of how traumatic it was.”

The dog bite incident was brought up during the public comment period of the last Marshalltown City Council meeting. Resident Jim Shaw asked why the dog had not been taken into custody.

Since the bite happened on Sunday, the dog was not immediately removed as the Animal Rescue League (ARL) of Marshalltown is not open on weekends or holidays. Executive Director Austin Gillis said the organization had the dog as of Monday.

Zazueta and Guadiana were notified of the dog being picked up on Wednesday. While they were surprised to receive the notification, they said they do feel relieved.

The MPD is conducting an ongoing investigation. Tupper said they do not yet know why the dog bit. Sometimes, a bite is provoked.

There have been incidents of a dog biting after being teased or hurt, he said. Last year, the MPD investigated 40 dog bite cases, according to Tupper. That is not an unusual number given the size of Marshalltown, but most of the investigations have involved minor incidents.

“This was not a minor event, but it is unusual for us to have an injury described as serious,” he said.

However, Tupper stressed that the dog owner was 100 percent cooperative with the officers and concerned about the welfare of the child.

“The dog owner has signed over ownership to the ARL and voluntarily agreed to have the dog euthanized,” he said.

One problem he believes the community has is ensuring that dogs are secured properly. Most investigations can be prevented by being responsible pet owners, Tupper said.

“I want to reemphasize (that) the dog owner in this case was very cooperative and concerned,” he said. “He was not doing anything intentional. I am not accusing the dog owner of being irresponsible, but the dog got loose, and we are figuring out how that happened.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

bradstream@timesrepublican.com.