A 17-year-old girl needed a two-hour operation and 40 stitches after she was bitten in the face by her pet German Shepherd while trying to take photos with the dog. While she’s expected to make a full recovery, the scary experience is a reminder that while we love our pets, they’re still animals and can be unpredictable at times.
Sesión de fotos con Kenai sale mal pic.twitter.com/gYU76iGGFC
— •Lara• (@LaruSanson) January 14, 2020
- Lara Sanson was just trying to take some cute photos. The teen, from Tucumán, Argentina, loves her German Shepherd named Kenai and was cuddling the dog and posing for the camera hoping to get some cute shots to post online. However, things went very wrong very quickly.
- The dog turned around and bit her in the face. It seemed to happen out of nowhere and for no reason and the dog’s jaws did some serious (but thankfully not permanent) damage to Lara’s face since the teeth pierced her skin. She had to undergo a two-hour operation and get 40 stitches to close the wounds Kenai caused.
- Lara doesn’t know what happened. The Daily Star reports that Sanson told La Nacion that she thought she might have touched the dog the wrong way or caused it pain since it’s old. “I do not know if I touched its hip or if it reacted like this because it is old, or it was because I hugged it and scared it,” she said.
- She doesn’t blame the dog and it won’t be put down. While many would say that Kenai should be put down as he’s clearly dangerous, Lara (and her family, I imagine) disagree and don’t believe that the pup deliberately tried to hurt her. A local vet agreed, telling La Nacion that perhaps its advanced age meant that it’s in pain, and the pain is what caused the dog to react.
- Lara’s photos have gone viral and serve as an important reminder. We love our dogs and want to get close to them and give them cuddles and sometimes they tolerate it, but we also have to remember that they’re not toys, they’re live animals and we need to respect their space. Thankfully Lara’s injuries weren’t more serious!
