Boy 'lucky to be alive' after vicious dog attack, says witness June 9th, 2026, Ontario, Canada
"Editor's note: The following story contains graphic accounts from witnesses at the scene of yesterday's dog attack.
Witness details are beginning to emerge after an 11-year-old boy suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries in a dog attack Monday morning in south Barrie.
The aggressive canine has yet to be located, more than 24 hours later.
A reporter spoke to three people who helped pull the boy away from the dog, chased it off and then called paramedics.
At around 8:45 a.m. on June 8, Barrie police officers responded to reports of a dog on the loose attacking multiple individuals in the Timberwalk neighbourhood around Essa Road and Loggers Run, including the boy who was riding a scooter. Police say the youngster was attacked as he tried to run away.
The boy was taken to local hospital where he remains on Tuesday.
Barrie police immediately launched an extensive search for the dog, described as a large bully breed, possibly mastiff, with light brown colouring. It had a red leash attached to its collar.
The dog was tracked to Loggers Run, then later in the area of Patterson Road and Florence Park before sightings of it were reported around Dove Crescent, police say.
One woman, who did not want to be identified, said she was driving along Essa Road when she saw the attack unfold.
“This attack was not provoked,” she said. “This boy was minding his business, riding his scooter on his way to school.”
She said the dog was 20 feet or so behind the boy, with a leash on and dragging its handler on the ground.
“The dog attack started on the sidewalk and the boy dropped his scooter and ran down the hill to get away,” the woman said. “I stopped my vehicle and ran after him as the dog gave chase and kept attacking.”
The woman said the dog’s handler was also trying to protect the boy with his own body and was also attacked.
“I was able to pull the dog off four or five times, but it was very strong and intent on attacking them,” she said.
It was then that a man drove up and also helped to get the dog off the boy and by hitting it with a snow brush.
“Myself and nearby tenants held the dog at bay so the gentleman could pick the boy up and put him in his car,” the woman said. “Even as he was being carried to the car, the dog attacked again.”
The woman said the attack lasted around two or three minutes.
“The boy is lucky to be alive. The dog was not giving up,” she said.
The woman said the boy suffered severe injuries to his head, upper and lower arms, lower legs and hands.
The others who came outside helped with calling emergency services, providing support and care to the boy and bringing items to cover the wounds, she added.
“I left briefly when the boy was put in the ambulance, because it was very traumatic and I needed to regain composure,” the woman said. “I talked to the police after. They were searching for the dog and trying to speak with the owner, who was not being co-operative and refused medical attention.”
When asked to describe the man who was walking the dog, the woman said he appeared to be in his mid-30s.
“He has bites to his hands and forearms for sure,” she said. “I don't know what else. He had recently gotten the dog, according to a neighbour.”
It is not known if this man was the owner of the dog or was just looking after it.
The man with the snow brush, 28-year-old Shawn Hillan, who lives in the immediate area of the attack, said he was leaving for work when the attack began.
“I just happened to look down the parking lot and I noticed someone getting attacked, and someone on top of the boy kind of shielding him,” he said.
Hillan said he drove there as fast as he could and saw a woman who was trying to pull the dog off the boy, but she wasn't strong enough.
“So I stepped in and I just started to yell and kick the dog, and he still wouldn't give up,” he said. “So after kicking him a few times, I went back into my car and grabbed my snow brush and then I started to hit the dog. And I hit him pretty hard over the head with my snow brush and it ended up breaking.”
It was at that moment the dog stepped back from the boy.
“That's when I grabbed the kid to get him up and then, in the same instant, the dog went back at him. And then I started to hit the dog again,” Hillan said.
He said the dog backed up again after it was hit few more times.
“The whole time the dog is just constantly trying to attack him, biting him over and over again,” Hillan said.
After breaking the boy free of the dog, Hillan said he put him in the safety of his car. The dog then ran away.
The boy provided him with his mother’s contact information, but he could not reach her before paramedics arrived and took the boy to the hospital.
“The boy was conscious,” Hillan said. “He was petrified, honestly. And he was scared for sure for his life. He didn't know what was going on.
“Truthfully, I was scared of the thing myself, but I knew that it wanted that boy, and I had to save the boy – get him to safety,” he added.
Another nearby resident, Shelby Ferris, said she heard a child screaming while she was inside her home.
“It was a blood-curdling scream … and I just ran toward the child's voice,” she said. “I saw a crowd of people and I saw a gentleman on the ground being absolutely dragged and attacked by this large, light brown pit bull.
"There was blood on the pavement,” added Ferris, who was one of the people who called 911.
At that point, the dog had stopped attacking the handler and the man was lying on the ground.
“He was trying to stand up slowly and the dog started circling all of us,” Ferris said. “So it was kind of like a shark in water, like trying to pick their next victim. And he locked eyes with me. I was kind of backing up the hill and I backed all the way up to the point where I almost actually stepped into traffic on Essa Road, trying to get away from the dog, because I didn't know if he was going to bite me next.”
Ferris said a man stepped in front of her and put himself between the dog and herself.
“And at that point, we were all just worried for this little boy in the car,” she said.
When paramedics arrived, they immediately started attending to the youngster.
“The little boy had an open, deep flesh wound with his bone showing,” Ferris said. “He also had his scalp pulled back. He was very badly injured. I was crying at this point and I'm standing in front of the paramedics to make sure that if this dog comes back, they're not going to start attacking the paramedics next.”
Ferris said a Barrie police officer arrived and went after the dog, but it had evaded him.
“Now it’s on the sidewalk on Essa Road, going down the hill toward the Timberwalk area and the cop sets out on foot, running down the hill after this dog and, unfortunately at that point, the police lost sight of the dog,” she said.
Ferris said she spent most of the rest of Monday crying, “because my last words to the little boy were ‘you're very brave’, and he was looking at the two young gentlemen paramedics and myself, and I was holding his hand and he looked at me and said, ‘I want my mommy.’ And that really got me.”
As for the dog attack, Ferris said “it was a different level of fear and terror that I have never before experienced in my life, but you know what? Being a mom, when you hear a child screaming ‘help me,’ you can't turn a blind eye to that. It's our job to protect, not just our children but everyone's child.”
Police stated this morning that the dog has not been seen since early Monday afternoon. Officers and city bylaw enforcement officials are actively searching today, as well as trying to contact the dog's owner.
Anyone who was bitten by the dog is urged to call police at 705-725-7025, or if the dog is spotted. Members of the public are being told not to approach or attempt to contain the dog.
"