An avid Ghost Lake visitor is spreading a cautionary tale of a dog attacking her over the August long weekend after she found out the offending dog is still at large. Tammy Avramenko was walking toward her campsite at Ghost Lake Provincial Campground when she saw an empty site with a bundle of wood and a couple sitting at a site nearby. "I was going to just offer it to them," Avramenko said, noting the couple had their backs to her. She called out to them. "I had my hand up like "hey" and I was just about to open up my mouth and say here's this wood, thought you might want it," Avramenko recounted. She said she was standing on the road approximately 40 to 50 feet away from the couple. "Then a dog jumped up, and it was on a leash and she and I made eye contact and kept thinking from that point 'thank God it's on a leash,'" Avramenko said. But Avramenko said the dog, a pitbull, began to run toward her with so much force that it broke its leash. "I just reacted by closing my eyes and I turned my back to her (the dog) and that's where she was able to get a hold of my leg. I felt she bit but she didn't stay latched on, (I) opened my eyes and she was circling around again and I did the same thing, just closed my eyes and turned around again and just thought this is it, she got me." The owners were able to get control of the dog but at that point Avramenko was in shock. "I was just sort of in a stunned state. I was like I'm so sorry if I've startled you, I'm so sorry that this happened, really sorry for the inconvenience – that's how your mind kind of works when you're in shock," Avramenko said, adding her friend came to her with first aid shortly after. She went to Cochrane Urgent Care to get stitched up and has been to intravenous treatments in Calgary for an infection caused by the bite in her leg. The owners were apologetic, Avramenko said, and had told her they would surrender the dog to the SPCA. However, Avramenko said the owners wouldn't divulge any information about themselves such as a name or address. A witness happened to write the owner's licence plate and passed it on to Avramenko who gave it to police. "Charges will be laid on the dog owner under the MD of Bighorn bylaws," said Cst. Kary Moore of the Cochrane RCMP. However, the dog was not surrendered, Moore confirmed. "It's just rather frustrating knowing the animal is still out there," Avramenko said. "I want the dog down, I want the dog down so bad, and I'm an animal lover." Avramenko said it was one of the rare times she wasn't with her two children. "If they were with me, it would have been them, 110 per cent. And there's no way they would have survived,' Avramenko said. "I don't think they would have the incline to turn around ... I'm just happy that it was me and not my kids." According to Avramenko, the owner said that it wasn't the first time the dog had attacked someone. "We're not dealing with a dog that should have been brought into a family-friendly provincial campground where there's tons and tons of kids running around," she said. "I'm just frustrated because I have to go through my own legal proceedings to try and get an order to get that dog surrendered ... If it has history, why is it still walking and potentially going to hurt somebody else." The Cochrane Eagle could not reach the dog owners.
