Callers Ask to Adopt Dog Dragged by Car

The North County animal shelter received about 25 calls Wednesday from people wanting to adopt an injured stray dog that was dragged on a rope behind a speeding car.

The calls were triggered by news accounts that Victoria Manriquez, 42, was arrested on animal cruelty charges and jailed for two days after, witnesses say, she slammed the car door on a rope that held the dog and dragged the bleeding Australian shepherd mixed-breed for half a mile.

The 45-pound, 5-year-old, female dog was found at midnight Sunday in a remote area on Poway Road in Rancho Penasquitos with cuts and scrapes to the pads of its feet, according to Dawn Danielson, captain of the North County animal control district.

Danielson said bandages on the dog’s legs were removed Wednesday and wounds on its chest are “healing nicely.” When the dog was found, the pads on its feet were almost gone and it was unable to walk, she said.

Danielson said the dark brown dog was “sweet and quiet and a little on the shy side, probably because of the trauma.”

If an owner does not claim the dog, the shelter will put it up for adoption, Danielson said. The dog is currently needed as evidence by police, she said.

Witnesses reported that Manriquez’s 14 year-old son brought home the stray, which she did not want to keep. On Sunday evening, Manriquez reportedly was unable to get the dog into the car, according to San Diego police spokesman Rick Carlson. She drove away, dragging the dog, until concerned neighbors stopped her, police said.

Police reported that Manriquez’s son placed the injured dog in a box, and she told neighbors she was taking it to the pound. Witnesses told police that they followed Manriquez to a remote area, where she reportedly left the dog in the box.

Manriquez was held at the County Jail for women in Santee for two days and released on her own recognizance. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Manriquez faces a felony charge punishable by a $20,000 fine or a year in prison.