A dog shot by Boulder police Sunday and later euthanized will be tested for rabies and other medical conditions after he continued to attack his owner and responding officers despite being stabbed, shocked with a Taser and shot, according to the Boulder Police Department.
Neighbors in the 3200 block of Palo Parkway called 911 around 8:17 a.m. after seeing a dog attacking a man outside of a home, the Boulder Police Department said in a news release Monday.
The attack began inside the house before the dog and owner ended up outside. The dog’s owner was trying to hold on to the dog so he would not attack anyone else, according to the department.
The dog was an 8-year-old American bulldog who belonged to the same family his entire life, police spokesperson Dionne Waugh said.
A neighbor stabbed the dog twice with kitchen knives, but the dog continued to bite his owner, according to the department.
Officers attempted to use a Taser to subdue the dog, which did not work, and the dog turned and started attacking the officer. The officer then shot the dog several times, and police began providing medical aid and putting tourniquets on the man who was attacked.
The dog then got up and charged at officers a second time, and officers shot him again, according to Boulder police.
The man was taken to the hospital in critical condition on Sunday and is now in stable condition, the department said in a news release.
Animal protection officers arrived at the scene shortly after the attack and euthanized the dog with a pentobarbital sodium injection because of the severity of his injuries.
Tanya Jackson, the mother of the man who was attacked, told the Daily Camera on Monday that the dog, Dutch, had been experiencing medical issues, including hallucinations, and the family was considering putting him down.
Dutch attacked the man after he reached into the dog’s crate and continued to do so by escaping through a back door after Jackson dragged her son outside.
“We’re a family suffering in two ways,” Jackson told the Daily Camera. “He was a part of our family. We take care of our own. We put time into this dog, effort into this dog.”
The dog was taken to the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital for a necropsy to rule out rabies, a brain tumor, accidental toxin ingestion and other possible environmental causes for the attack, according to the department.
In a statement, interim Chief Stephen Redfearn said the dog posed a life-threatening risk to the man it was attacking as well as bystanders.
“This was a disturbing event for everyone involved and the mauling could have truly been much worse if not for our officer’s swift actions,” Redfearn said.
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