Two corgis named Charlee and Piper are recovering from deep neck wounds after two Staffordshire dogs attacked them just 20 feet from their family's front door in South Hill Puyallup. Owner John Fairbanks says the almost 10-year-old dogs, who have never been apart from one another, now face medical tubes, surgeries and a long road back to health following the attack.
Fairbanks said his daughter was walking Charlee and Piper when the attack began, according to FOX 13 Seattle. He was away from home at the time, and a neighbor ended up rushing both the dogs and his daughter to the hospital. His daughter and a neighbor's son were also bitten by the two Staffordshire dogs during the incident, the station reported.
In an August 11 GoFundMe post, Fairbanks wrote that the attack happened just two months after his family moved to South Hill Puyallup, and that the Staffordshire dogs belonged to renters who were not home at the time and who, he says, are uninsured. That detail matters practically as well as emotionally: per the GoFundMe campaign, veterinary bills for Charlee and Piper are nearing $10,000, and the family is leaning on crowdfunding to cover emergency care, surgeries and ongoing treatment.
A Family Calls It One of the Most Helpless Moments
Fairbanks described the situation as devastating and called it one of the most helpless and heartbreaking moments of his life. Piper in particular faces a long recovery and additional surgeries, while both dogs have been reunited since the attack after suffering deep gashes in their necks. Fairbanks wrote that support would help his dogs heal.
Washington law places the financial burden for this kind of attack squarely on the dog owners regardless of the animals' prior history. Under RCW 16.08.040, dog owners are strictly liable for damages resulting from bites in public or lawfully accessed private spaces, meaning victims do not have to prove the owner was negligent or that the dog had a history of aggression. Because the renters involved are reportedly uninsured, however, actually recovering costs remains a steep practical hurdle for the Fairbanks family, which is part of why they turned to crowdfunding rather than a direct claim.
How Washington Defines a Dangerous Dog
State law also spells out when a dog crosses the legal line into dangerous territory. Under RCW 16.08.070, Washington defines a dangerous dog as one that inflicts severe injury on a person without provocation, kills a domestic animal off its owner's property, or bites again aggressively after already being declared potentially dangerous. Locally, Pierce County Code Title 6 goes further for multi-dog incidents: if two or more animals participate together in an attack causing severe injury or death, all of the animals involved are legally designated as dangerous.
Any dog involved in a human bite incident in the eastern Pierce County cities served by Metro Animal Services must also be captured and placed under a mandatory 10-day quarantine, a standard protocol for rabies monitoring and public safety. Metro Animal Services, managed by the City of Sumner with a shelter based in Puyallup, handles animal control, licensing and dangerous-dog enforcement across seven municipalities in the region. It remains an open question whether Metro Animal Services has formally impounded or declared the Staffordshire dogs dangerous under county code, whether any criminal referral is planned, or whether the daughter and neighbor's son needed hospital treatment for their bites.
Breed Bans Are Off the Table Under State Law
Even as attention turns to the breed of the dogs involved, Washington law limits how far local governments can go in targeting specific breeds. RCW 16.08.110, effective since January 2020, restricts municipalities from enacting breed-based bans or restrictions unless they also maintain an exemption process for dogs that pass a recognized behavioral test, such as the AKC Canine Good Citizen exam. That framework pushes enforcement toward individual animal behavior rather than blanket breed restrictions, per MRSC.
This is not the first time a loose dog attack has rattled Puyallup this year. Hoodline previously reported on a mauling near 14th and Pioneer in April, when a loose dog attacked a 12-year-old boy on a bicycle before bystanders intervened; that case prompted a Metro Animal Services investigation and the owner's agreement to euthanize the dog, according to KING 5 News. Countywide, the Pierce County Sheriff's Department Animal Control Division fields more than 10,000 calls a year with just seven commissioned officers covering a 1,600-square-mile area, underscoring how stretched local enforcement resources are relative to demand.
Multi-dog attacks have also proven costly in Pierce County courts before. A 2011 jury awarded $2.2 million to a woman who suffered severe injuries when two pit bulls mauled her inside her own home, according to Kirk Davis Law, a precedent that illustrates the potential civil exposure owners face when more than one dog is involved in an attack. For now, the Fairbanks family is focused on Charlee and Piper's recovery, hoping surgeries and ongoing treatment will bring the two corgis back to full health.
