Service dog injured after alleged attack at Fredericton business
CBC
Robert Read and his service dog Juno have been side-by-side for the last year and a half. Wherever he goes, so does Juno. But they are both struggling to trust the world around them.
Around a month ago, Read said he walked into Dynamic Training Centre, on Hodgson Road in Fredericton, where a U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer is also located. He was going to help his son's friend tow a trailer.
Read and Juno, a border collie mix, walked into the building, which he said has the gym on one side and the U-Haul on the other. He heard his son's friend talking and followed his voice into what he said appeared to be a small hallway.
According to Read, that's when a pit bull bounded down the hall and started attacking Juno, who was leashed.
"I wasn't really sure what to do. I'm sort of in a little bit of a shock because I didn't want to stick my hand in the middle of it because obviously that's, you know, that's how you get bit," Read said.
"But I was like, Oh my god, my dog is, she was screeching, and I picked her up and she had been bitten on the face and bitten pretty severely. And then his dog took off."
CBC News made repeated attempts on Friday to contact the owner of the Dynamic Training Centre. Pat Corkum acknowledged the request in an email but did not address the specific allegations and referred further questions to his lawyer, who did not respond to an email on Monday.
Also on Monday, CBC News once again asked Corkum if he'd be interested in speaking, as well as requesting access to video evidence Corkum, in his original reply, said he had.
Read said he started panicking and rushed Juno to his truck and he took her to the closest emergency vet.
Read's son's friend, Nevan Whynot, who was at the front desk at the time of the attack, said he didn't even think to warn Read about the dog when he first saw it.
He said he heard one growl from the dog and when he looked, the dog had "snapped onto Juno."
Whynot said he was frightened during the event, especially when he saw the amount of blood.
"I've never seen so much blood in my life," he said.
After Read took Juno to the vet, Whynot said he started talking to the owner and was trying his best to stay calm.
