Woman injured in dog attack while walking with granddaughter in Ottawa

May 2, 2023 Canuck

A woman is recovering from serious bites after being attacked by dogs while on a walk with her granddaughter last week.

When Annemieke Bakker-Sweet went for a walk with her 14-month-old granddaughter, Ellis, in Constance Bay last Thursday, she wasn’t expecting this.

“I have no idea what triggered them. They came towards us right away, barking,” she tells CTV News.

Joined by another woman on the walk, they were attacked by two Border Collie-type dogs.

“She said, ‘No, I got bitten’ and then they turned on me.”

The bites on her legs were so severe that she was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Recovering now, Bakker-Sweet says she needed multiple stitches, is now on antibiotics and is receiving home care.

The dogs did not bite her granddaughter, who was in a stroller at the time, but the stroller was knocked over.

“I fell, tipped, tripped, the stroller tipped, I got back up and I had no idea when this was going to end. I started yelling and screaming,” says Bakker-Sweet.

A neighbour on Bayview Avenue heard the noise and stepped in.

“I could see the dogs jumping at her and trying to take her down so I grabbed a bat and ran out as quickly as I could to fend off the dogs. They ran up the street away from me and then they kept coming back,” says Rick Race.

Ottawa Bylaw has issued five charges to the dogs’ owner including failing to control a dog, failing to ensure a dog does not bite without provocation, and letting a dog run at large. The charges include more than $1,600 in fines.

In addition, muzzle orders have been issued for the two dogs involved in the incident. The dogs were also registered with the city of Ottawa as a result of the bylaw investigation.

“I don’t want to think of the what-ifs, but you have to in this scenario,” Ellis’ mother tells CTV News. “My concern is that nobody took this seriously enough … And if it wasn’t for a citizen with a bat, what would they have done?”

Bakker-Sweet and her husband, Lee Sweet, say with an attack and bites as serious as this, “I think there’s something’s missing in how it could be dealt with.”

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