A mother lied to authorities to protect her boyfriend's Pit Bull after the dog severely bit her 2-year-old daughter.
"She tried to say that this injury to her child occurred from a stray," Des Moines Police Sergeant Jim Butler said to My Fox 8, "And that's not something that sits too well for me. First and foremost we all love our pets but we have to take care of our children first before the family pet."
Gabrielle Looney, 2, approached Bowser the Pit Bull, also 2, to give him a kiss on the nose when he snapped at her.
"Truthfully, I really don't know what he was thinking. I know that he understood that he was wrong," John Houston, Bowser's owner and the boyfriend of Gabrielle's mother, said to My Fox 8 "He ran into the corner and laid down, like with his ears down. He knew he was in trouble."
Houston and his girlfriend confessed it was Bowser who bit Gabrielle after the hospital told them the 2-year-old girl would have to go through a series of painful rabies shots if the dog that bit her was not identified.
"After they told us the procedures, after all that then it was like, 'yeah, we have to. It's the right thing to do,'" Houston said to My Fox 8. "I was going to end up putting him into the shelter anyway that night. Because it's like you can't trust it. If it happens once there's a possibility where it can happen again. And the kids are more important."
Now Houston fears that Bowser, his best friend, will be put down because Sgt. Butler will likely tell the shelter the dog is dangerous, vicious or high risk because he bit a human "at or above the shoulders."
Houston said that Gabrielle and the dog are also friends and often play together.
"Truthfully, I really don't know what he was thinking. I know that he understood that he was wrong," Houston told My Fox 8, "He ran into the corner and laid down, like with his ears down. He knew he was in trouble."
Gabrielle's mother could face charges for filing a false report and interference with official acts because she lied to police.
