Family says adopted pit bull from Taylor shelter attacked their child

TAYLOR, Mich. (WJBK) -
A Taylor family adopts a dog from a local animal shelter, told that the dog would be great with children.

As soon as they brought it home they say their new pet attacked their daughter who is in the hospital.

All indications were Stephanie Copley and her 4-year-old daughter Sierra found the perfect pet.

"We found a dog named 'Lightning' she liked him and we took him home," said Stephanie Copley. "They said he was kid friendly."

Here at the shelter employees told FOX 2 that Lightning, a 60-pound pit bull, was well-behaved and showed no signs of aggression at all.  He even let children take him for walks. Of course that changed when Copley brought him home.

"It was lying on the floor, my daughter was sitting next to it and it just turned and bit her," Copley said.

As scary as it sounds the bite to 4-year-old's face appeared to be relatively minor.

"She had two wounds one stitch in each one," Copley said.

But it soon got worse and Sierra was admitted into the hospital.

"It was so infected that she had to get plastic surgery on her face," Copley said.

The dog was brought back to the Taylor Animal Shelter.

"I feel sorry for the kid," said Lanny Hall, animal control supervisor. "The secretary gave her money back on the dog. We do have it in quarantine and after 10 days it will be available for rescue only."

When Lighting was adopted he had a tag on the cage which read: "Good with kids, very hyper, will jump on you, cuddler, playful."

Information that the shelter says comes from the previous owner.

"As that dog was here, we didn't have any problems with it," Hall said. "And like I showed you with the paperwork, the owner said it was good with kids, not good with cats."

But Copley says she was misled.

"They didn't tell where it came from, if it was stray, just that it was good with kids," Copley said.

After FOX 2 left the shelter in Taylor, Copley says she got a text supposedly from a shelter volunteer which read: "Lightning was listed as good with kids from his previous owner. I don't know what you are trying to do, but it's not right."

Stephanie says she wants to make sure her daughter is okay and ready to return home after surgery. She also warns others not to take the signs on the cage at face value.

"Get them vetted and know what you are dealing with first," she said. "Before you adopt them."