South Ogden man struggling to recoup vet costs after he says dog was attacked
(KUTV) — A South Ogden man is still battling to recoup vet costs after he said his dog was attacked in Davis County.
“That’s his favorite sleeping position,” Rich Waldorf scanned through pictures of his 7-year-old Golden Retriever, Cody. “Between my wife and I, we’ve probably got more than 1,000 picture of him.”
Those are the good memories, but life for Cody now has changed a lot.
“He’s had three major procedures done on him already,” Waldorf said.
On November 3, while on a walk on Legacy Parkway Trail, Waldorf said an off-leash pit bull attacked Cody.
“The attack was very vicious and went on for quite a while,” he said.
Waldorf said the pit bull's owner, at the time, claimed responsibility.
“He was very concerned, and said he would pay,” Waldorf said.
He rushed Cody to the vet, not exchanging information with the other dog owner. Waldorf thought he could get the police report and contact the owner.
But when he got the police report, “You can see that everything is all blacked out,” he said. “How do you do that if you can’t contact the person?”
Woods Cross police declined to do an interview with 2News, but said freedom of information laws do not require them to give out personal information. Davis County Animal Control representatives said they also will redact information, but they will mediate between the parties and exchange information if parties agree to release it.
Waldorf said he has contacted Woods Cross police and animal control, but he’s not getting calls back.
“I am getting no help whatsoever,” he said.
Trial lawyer Christian Burridge said redacting reports is causing problems for people in his profession as well.
“We have seen it in just run-of-the-mill cases that we've been doing,” Burridge said. "Causes a lot more work for us just to get simple information, for us to do our normal business,” he said.
Burridge said in dog bite cases, the victim’s owner does have rights.
“There's a property damage. That happens to somebody's dog, you should still be able to do it like any other property damage claim,” he said.
The money Waldorf said could never add up to what Cody has gone through.
“The suffering for the dog is 24 hours a day,” he said.
But, Waldorf said he did his own research find what he thinks is the right address for the other person, wrote him a letter, and hopes to keep this out of court.
“I am just anxious to see if he’s going to accept the responsibility and liability and reimbursing us for our physical damages,” Waldorf said.
2News also reached out to the other dog owner, but they declined to do an interview.
