2 Dogs Maul Ventura Woman Trying to Protect Dachshund : Animal control: Paula Atkin, 70, delays treatment of her wounds in futile bid to save the 10-pound pet. A neighbor comes to her aid.

Two marauding dogs mauled a 70-year-old Ventura woman and the tiny dachshund she was walking Sunday morning in a quiet neighborhood near the Ventura County Government Center, leaving the woman with deep puncture wounds on her leg and the 10-pound dog dead.

Ventura County Animal Control Supervisor Roger Graves said the two dogs, a 9-month-old Rottweiler and a 2-year-old Gordon setter named Dillinger and Clyde, attacked Paula Atkin while she was walking the dachshund on Hill Road in east Ventura.

The dogs had escaped from behind a six-foot gate at the home of their owner, Fred Qualls, on Kingfisher Place, a cul-de-sac off Hill, Graves said.

When they attacked the dachshund, Atkin tried to defend Bruno, a 2-year-old she was looking after for friends.

Neighbor Henry Prado interceded with a garden hose and the dogs were separated, but it was too late for Bruno, who suffered major trauma to the abdominal and chest area. According to Fire Department officials, Atkin deferred medical attention for her own wounds and insisted on taking Bruno to a pet hospital first.

Atkin was later treated at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura and released. She would not say how many stitches she had, but her leg was wrapped in a white bandage from above the knee to the upper calf. Fire officials said she had deep puncture wounds on her knee and a two-inch-square gash below the knee. She was also bitten on her thumb.

Ventura Fire Capt. David Frost said Atkin’s injuries would have been worse had Prado not come to her aid. The department is considering giving him a commendation, he said.

“Henry Prado saved the woman from more serious injuries,” Frost said.

Graves said the two dogs have been impounded at their owner’s home. From behind a locked gate Sunday afternoon, Dillinger poked his nose out a crack to look at a visitor, while the setter wagged its tail. Unless Atkin files a nuisance complaint, Graves said, the dogs will remain under the owner’s supervision.

“I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with them [the owners],” Graves said. “They did seem responsible.”

Graves said animal control inspectors questioned neighbors, who said the dogs are normally quiet and well-behaved. In fact, he said some neighbors did not even realize that Qualls owned dogs.

It was unclear which dog led the attack, Graves said.

“I don’t even want to say it was the Rottweiler,” he said. “But in my mind, I would think it would be.”

In a 1994 study of dog breeds in Ventura County, Rottweilers were ranked fourth among breeds likely to bite humans, behind German shepherds, chow chows and pit bulls. Rottweilers accounted for 60 bites out of 487 reported between September, 1993, and October, 1994.

Qualls’ dogs will be quarantined for rabies for 10 days. After that, they may leave the property, but only on a leash, Graves said.

An exhausted-looking Atkin leaned her head against her door Sunday afternoon and said she had called Bruno’s owners to notify them of the dog’s death.

“They loved that dog,” she said.

She declined further comment, including whether she plans to take action against Dillinger and Clyde.

Times correspondent Andrew D. Blechman contributed to this report.