2 Dogs Destroyed After Attacking Jogger

Two Great Danes that bit a jogger Sunday were put to sleep at the request of their owner, the result of what animal-control officials described as a “freakish” incident.

Mary Kemp, 43, of Ojai was treated at Ojai Valley Hospital on Sunday afternoon for scrapes to her upper leg and arm.

The dogs, which were on leashes, attacked Kemp as she jogged along a residential street between Oak View and Ojai, said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Edling. When Kemp tried to run from the dogs, she fell into a creek ditch, Edling said, where they bit her several times.

The dogs’ owner, Oak View resident Virginia Pesola, could not control the animals, authorities said.

Neither Pesola nor Kemp, who reportedly know each other, could be reached for comment Monday.

“It was just a freakish thing,” said Kathy Jenks, director of the Ventura County Animal Regulation Department. “It sounded like the dogs, for whatever reason, felt the owner was in jeopardy.”