A dog was put on the Calvert County dangerous dog list recently after it jumped up and bit an oil delivery man on the face when he was trying to give a customer a receipt.
"He had a multitude of stitches on his face," more than 100, said Adele Maguire, the man's mother. The dog ripped out pieces of his upper and lower lip, she said.
Employed by Griffith Oil, Rob Maguire of Broomes Island said when a customer opened his Dunkirk home's front door after Maguire knocked to hand over the receipt, "the dog just leaped up and got me on the left side of my face.
"I had no time to turn my head," he said. Maguire said the dog, which was at first thought to be a pit bull, bit out pieces of his upper and lower lip when it bit his face.
"It took me a minute to realize I had been bitten. Then I realized I was bleeding. I was in shock. "
Maguire said he had been to the house to deliver heating oil several times in the past, but he had never seen a dog.
The dog, registered as an American Staffordshire terrier, weighs 56 pounds. The American Staffordshire terrier resembles what is considered its cousin, the American pit bull terrier.
The dog that attacked Maguire was added to the county's dangerous dog list per the recommendation of the Animal Control Officer who responded to the scene, according to the Calvert County Sheriff's Office.
"It was largely my fault. I opened the door and the dog pushed out," said Barry Harbison, the father of the owner of the dog. The owner was at work at the time of the incident. The dog, which normally is kept in a kennel, had never done anything like this before, Harbison said, adding "I was extremely surprised."
The 2 -year-old dog was never trained to attack, he said. "I guess it's their nature."
Brandon Harbison, who said he has known the dog since it was born, said, "We don't know what caused it."
The dog has never shown any aggression toward any human beings, he said. The dog, Honey, is trained to sit and stay and has shown just playfulness, he added.
"The only thing she barks at is a squirrel," Brandon Harbison said. "When I got the call I came rushing home," he said, adding that it was totally unexpected.