Fear and rage.

Monday, August 27, 2001

Fear and rage. Those are the two feelings Fay Dybedahl has been struggling with since her son was attacked by dogs in Roseau, Minn. Aug. 16.

Dybedahl, who lives in Albert Lea, fears her son Daniel will be scarred permanently from the dog bites that cover his limbs. She’s also enraged that someone would raise dogs that could cause such harm to innocent people.

&uot;I’m so angry I hardly know what to do,&uot; said Dybedahl, who lives in Albert Lea. &uot;I think those dogs were trained to be that way. What could those people own that’s so valuable that they have to have killer dogs on their property?&uot;

The attack occurred when Daniel approached a house to use the phone after he got his four-wheel RV stuck in a ditch. Before he reached the house, three Pitbull mixes and a Rottweiler attacked him, inflicting bone-deep lacerations on his arms and legs.

Daniel was hospitalized with severe bites that required 270 staples and several stitches. Dybedahl immediately left her job at Crossroads Farms and drove to Roseau when she heard the news of the attack from her ex-husband, Dan Syverson.

&uot;I was panicked. He looked awful, and I could see the kind of pain he was in,&uot; she said.

On Wednesday, Dybedahl took Daniel from the hospital in Roseau and admitted him to St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester because she was concerned about infection.

&uot;His foot was swollen so big,&uot; she said. &uot;They wanted to release him in Roseau, but I didn’t think he was ready. I wanted someone else to look at him.&uot;

By Saturday, Daniel was feeling better, and the antibiotics appeared to be working on the infection. There was even a remote possibility he could be recovering fast enough to be ready for school.

&uot;I know he would love that. He’s tired of being off his feet,&uot; Dybedahl said.

Now that she’s satisfied her son is getting good medical attention, Dybedahl is considering legal action against the owners of the dogs. Though authorities are planning to destroy the dogs, Dybedahl said that’s hardly a consolation.

&uot;I know from the sheriff up there that they’ve had problems with these people and their dogs before,&uot; she said. &uot;That makes me really angry because this was a situation just waiting to happen – and it happened to my little boy.&uot;