Pit Bull Puppy Eats Sleeping Owner’s Toes

A 6-month-0ld pit bull puppy ate two of his owner’s toes while the man was sleeping Wednesday morning.

Roger Brown of Brazil, Indiana, woke up around 4:30 am to find his puppy Bo licking his feet. But Bo had already gnawed off Brown’s big and small toe on his left foot before Brown woke up. The puppy was also able to eat away a portion of Brown’s foot as well.

Brown’s brother, Marvin, said the pinky toe had a hole the size of a half dollar, and that it was bandaged back up after cutting away dead skin and tissue. Bo tried to pull the bandage off, while Brown was awake, but Brown kept shooing him away.

Brown, who is diabetic and disabled, typically wraps his feet when he sleeps because of his “flesh wounds [and] blisters,” but he skipped the wrapping Tuesday night. The 46-year-old said he doesn’t blame Bo for the incident and has decided not to euthanize him. Brown said he will continue raising Bo, and admitted that he had only himself to blame. He said that was Bo was “enticed” by the exposed flesh, and that he didn’t feel anything because gangrene had set in.

Doctors think Bo smelled the infection and was trying to chew it out of Brown’s foot. Police said since the dog is a family pet, they don’t consider the incident an attack. Brazil Police Chief Clint McQueen said he’s never encountered a situation like this before, but that there’s a “first time for everything.”

Bo has been isolated by the city by order police, and he remains under observation for signs of rabies or other illness. Brown, a father of three, was rushed to IU Health Methodist Hospital by medical helicopter. He said he is “forever maimed” by the incident and faces a long road to recovery.

A similar incident happened to an Oregon man last year. A 61-year-old Roseburg man, who is also diabetic, had his toes eaten off by his dog in his sleep. Roseburg veternarian Alan Ross said that, similar to Brown’s situation with Bo, the dog was probably attracted to the smell of an infection and was trying to get rid of the dead tissue.