In the jaws of two pit-bull terriers, 22-year-old Tracy Lindsey fought like a dog for her life.

She bit one on the neck. She gouged at eyes. She kicked. She punched. She clawed.

"I tried everything, but it wasn't much of a fight," the young mother admitted Tuesday from her bed at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she was recovering from wounds inflicted by the dogs that attacked her while she was jogging Saturday near her home in Eustis. "There was no other option. I couldn't lose. I had to survive for my girls."

Lindsey's wounds are so severe she cannot even hold her two daughters, 3-year-old Gabriel and 18-month-old Annabel.

Lake County Animal Control officials have issued three civil citations to the dogs' owners, Jessie and Jesica Iaquinta of Eustis, who surrendered custody of the adult males, Hercules and Junior. Both dogs will be euthanized next week after the 10-day quarantine period imposed by the Lake County Health Department to investigate the possibility of rabies.

"This was an unprovoked mauling, one of the worst I've seen in my 13 years here," said Lake County Animal Services Director Marjorie Boyd. "These are very dangerous dogs."

Jessie Iaquinta said he was unsure how the two chained dogs got loose or why they attacked.

But Boyd said the animals have been the subject of two prior complaints, including a March 5 incident when one of them nipped a pedestrian. The other incident involved a stray animal that was bitten in February when it wandered onto the couple's property on County Road 44. Boyd said no citations were issued in those two cases.

The citations after Saturday's attack say the couple violated county animal codes by failing to keep the dogs on their property and failing to prevent them from causing injury. Fines for the three code violations would total $168, including court costs, though the Iaquintas have the right to appeal.

The attack occurred on Getford Road about 5 p.m. as Lindsey was near the end of a mile jog.

"All of a sudden there was a dog jumping at my face, biting at me — two, maybe three feet away," she said in a weak voice. "So I started to back up when I realized there was another one right behind me. It was leaping, too."

It bit her shoulder. The other clamped its teeth around her left leg and started to twist and thrash its head.

Lindsey spied a fence.

"I thought if I could shake one of them loose, maybe I could get over the fence," she said.

It was barbed.

The 125-pound woman gripped the top wire and started to climb, but the dogs dragged her down in the grass.

Teeth ripped at her leg and shoulder. Blood covered their snouts and jaws. The dog she bit yelped but didn't retreat. Finally Lindsey heard a voice yelling: "Get off! Get off! Get off!" And then almost as suddenly as it began, the attack ended, she said.

Lindsey underwent a three-hour surgery Monday during which doctors assessed the nerve damage in her leg. She faces six more surgeries to repair muscle and reconstruct the limb with skin grafts, said her mother, Jane Phillips, 54, of Zellwood.

"When I heard 'pit bulls' and 'airlifted,' all I could think was 'Oh, Lord, please, please let her be OK. Let her be alive,'" said Phillips, who also gave thanks that Lindsey hadn't taken her daughters along on the jog.

Phillips said Lindsey and her husband, Dustin, 23, a supervisor at a plastics company, do not have health insurance.

I can't help but condemning the 'chaining of dogs'...... Pits are not just powerful dogs but they are very energetic dogs and need a lot of exercise. Chaining them in the yard is only making them go mad with frustration! Hence, if and when they slip the chain, they will go on a rampage.

WHEN IS AMERICA GOING TO BAN CHAINING DOGS???????????

If people want a guard/watch dog then they have to be prepared to work with them, train them and give them the attention they deserve.
Also, in this case, they were having two MALE dogs! Presumably not even castrated.
Those people ought to be fined very heavily and banned from having any dogs!

Tom

Shaking head at this one...Dave

I agree with Tom on the cause of chaining dogs. It is banned in the UK and rightly so.
America needs to move into the 21st century on that! There needs to be a strong message getting people to understand that chaining dogs is a recipe for disaster! Dogs NEED training and exercise! If those 'chainers' are too lazy to do that, then the dogs should be taken off them.

hexie