Pit bull attacks Lake County woman in shower

HOWEY-IN-THE HILLS - A Lake County woman showering at her grandson's home was attacked by an 18-month-old pit bull and had to be rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center, according to a Sheriff's Office report.

The woman, 73-year-old Joan Brown Benitez, suffered lacerations and puncture wounds to her arms, lower legs and thigh areas during the attack which occurred last week, according to the incident report. The attack occurred June 5 at a residence on State Road 19 in Howey-in-the-Hills.

The dog, a chocolate-and-white colored dog named Marley, had been outside when Benitez came over to her grandson's home and asked if she could take a shower there. As she was showering, several dogs entered the residence through a "doggie door."

The dog's owner, James Rhew, told a deputy after the attack that only Marley had "blood present on his muzzle." He also said that Marley was not familiar with Benitez, who had only been inside the home a couple of times this year.

I remember I was taking a shower once and this big ol' butcher knife started slicing through the shower curtain accompanied by this weird screechy music coming from somewhere. (Reet! Reet! Reet! Reet!)

It was pretty scary because the knife started slicing at me and then....

Oh, wait.

Never mind.

That was a movie I saw.

I’ve had run-ins with many pitbulls over the years through my volunteer work with dog rescue. I’m a big fan of animals, but simply can’t warm up to pitbulls. Oh, there are some in my rescue group who go on and on about how the breed is “misunderstood” and how they’re really just “lapdogs” and “love bugs” and all kinds of horsesh*t like that. I’m not swayed. I’ve been bitten by pitbulls and have had dogs attacked by pitbulls. The worst time was when I had a skittish dog and a pitbull owner brought his dog close to mine. When I asked him politely to please not walk his dog so close to mine as my dog was very nervous around other dogs the guy with the pit responded something to the effect of “Oh, my dog is really gentle.” Well, to make a long story short it took sixteen stitches to sew my dog’s ear back on and as my dog lie bleeding on the ground the pit’s owner accused my dog of “provoking” his dog. Idiot...and that’s the kindest thing I called him that day.

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