‘Dog Whisperer’ Blamed for Pit Bull Attack

     LOS ANGELES (CN) - Dog whisperer Cesar Millan's L.A. county facility negligently released a vicious pit bull that brutally mauled a woman six days later, she claims in court.
     Florida-based nurse Alison Bitney sued Millan and his Dog Psychology Center of Santa Clarita on Tuesday in Superior, for a Sept. 23, 2014 attack that left her without feeling and function in her left hand.
     The "Dog Whisperer" television show focuses on Millan's training program for problem dogs. Broadcast on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo Wild, the show debuted in 2004.
     In her Feb. 3 lawsuit, Bitney says the pit bull attacked her while she was visiting co-defendant John Vazzoler's Santa Clarita home.
     She claims the dog had an "extensive history of vicious and unprovoked attacks on individuals and animals," and that in 2013 the dog was impounded in Texas after attacking a trainer.
     On Feb. 7, 2013, Bitney says, the dog attacked trainer Amber Rickles, after a Katy, Texas woman surrendered the animal with a warning that the dog was "'nervous, growling and doesn't like children.'"
     Staff at a previous facility had described the dog as "'glassy eyed,'" and said they were scared to handle him, Bitney says.
     During a 20-minute attack, Bitney says, the dog bit Rickles on the right arm when she tried to put it in a kennel, and then latched on to her left breast.
     "With the pit bull still attached to her left breast, Ms. Rickles backed into a laundry room where the dog released his grip, enabling Ms. Rickles to close the door. The pit bull then broke through the door and attacked Ms. Rickles a third time, latching onto her left arm and breaking it in two places," the lawsuit states.
     Three men eventually pulled the dog off Rickles.
     Over the course of a week, Rickles underwent reconstructive surgery. She had a plate and pin inserted into her left arm and needed more than 50 stitches for her wounds, the complaint states.
     Bitney says Rickles was "left with disfiguring scars and permanent physical limitations."
     On Feb. 26, 2013, a Montgomery judge ordered the state to destroy the dog. But the rescuer who brought the dog to Rickles' boarding and training center, co-defendant Jennifer L. Romano, appealed the order, Bitney says.
     Milan's Dog Psychology Center then agreed to take the pit bull and rehabilitate it, according to the 27-page lawsuit.
     Bitney claims that Texas agreed to spare the dog's life after Romano agreed to inform any future owners of the dog's history of biting. But the "dog's owner" fell behind on payments to the keep the dog at the Dog Psychology Center, according to the lawsuit.
     In April 2014 the pit bull bit an Alaskan malamute on the neck, Bitney says. Knowing that the dog was still a danger to the public, the center released the dog on Sept. 17, 2014, according to the complaint.
     "The center prematurely released the known vicious and dangerous pit bull back into the public domain and entrusted it to someone with no training or experience in the handling of vicious and dangerous dogs," the complaint states.
     Jennifer Gray, the director and head trainer at the Dog Psychology Center, acknowledged that the animal needed another 18 months of rehabilitation, and would never be ready to live in a "regular home," Bitney says.
     The dog attacked Bitney at Vazzoler's home six days after Millan's center released it, she says.
     She says her injuries included "disfiguring open wounds, deep muscle and tendon lacerations and open comminuted fractures to the radius and ulna of her left arm and permanent loss of feeling and function in her left hand."
     Late last month, L.A. Superior Court found that the dog is vicious and should be put down.
     Named as defendants are Dog Psychology Center, Millan, Vazzoler, and Romano.
     Bitney seeks medical expenses, costs, and punitive damages for negligence, professional negligence, violation of the Dog Bite statute, strict liability for an animal with vicious propensities, and premises liability.
     She is represented by Harry Frank Scolinos and Todd F. Nevell, with Scolinos, Sheldon Nevell.
     The law firm, Millan and Romano did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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