Boy in serious condition after attack by Great Danes

Jace Radke and Emily Richmond

Thursday, Jan. 24, 2002 | 10:06 a.m.

Eleven-year-old Michael Foley has always been an animal lover, his mother says.

He and his family have two horses and two cats. He has always been fond of his neighbor's Great Danes.

Which explains why Denise Clemente Foley wasn't concerned Wednesday afternoon when her son walked next door to feed the four dogs for the neighbor, who was out of town.

Then Foley heard her son's screams.

"(The neighbor) promised to bring Michael back a T-shirt or a souvenir if he would feed the dogs," Foley said as her son underwent emergency surgery at University Medical Center about an hour after he was savagely attacked by the animals. "The dogs always loved him. Just not today."

Michael Foley was in serious condition this morning as a result of the attack, which happened about 3:30 p.m. in a rural neighborhood off U.S. 95 near the turnoff to Mount Charleston.

The dogs are believed to be owned by Dail Kohler, the family and neighbors said. Kohler couldn't be reached for comment.

Karen Hennessy, a neighbor who lives across the street from the Foleys, said she became horrified when she saw the boy as he was placed in a medical evacuation helicopter.

"He had what looked like a 4-inch laceration on the right side of his skull and a puncture wound in the forehead," said Hennessy, who lives in the 8600 block of Rocky Avenue near Horse Drive and U.S. 95. "His whole face was covered in blood."

The boy, UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said, had "too many wounds to count."

Michael was still unconscious this morning but had been taken off a ventilator and was breathing on his own, Plummer said.

"We're in a wait-and-see mode right now, but it looks like he will be OK," Plummer said.

The boy's father, Chuck Foley, who ran from his home in response to his son's screams, managed to scare off the animals, Las Vegas Animal Control officials said.

The four dogs were taken to Lied Animal Shelter, where they will be held while animal control officials investigate the attack, Sgt. John Fudenberg, a Las Vegas City Marshal and a spokesman for animal control, said.

A 9 a.m. meeting was scheduled for this morning to discuss the dogs' fate, a spokeswoman for animal control said.

Neighbors said the woman who owns the dogs has seven Great Danes, though animal control officials found only four at her home.

The boy had known the 18-month-old dogs, which are at least 100 pounds apiece, since they were puppies.

"The dogs are all huge, but they were never a problem before this," Denise Foley said.

The boy often fed the dogs, each about 3 feet tall, Hennessy said.

"They knew his scent, and he was always over there, and that's why this is such a freak thing," Hennessy said. "I used to take my 5-year-old son over to play with the dogs, but they just got too big. They could easily knock over an adult."

The Great Danes' owner moved her pets to her back yard after the animals showed the ability to jump a 4-foot fence in the front yard, Hennessy said.

Two of the dogs last summer cleared the front-yard fence and killed a 14-year-old dachshund in a neighbor's yard, according to the dachshund's owner, Deneb Ranciato.

"My dog was on its last legs and tied to a rope when they mauled it," Ranciato said. "We had to put it to sleep because of the injuries.

"Ever since that happened my mother doesn't go for her nightly walks anymore because she's afraid of the dogs."

Hennessy said in November two of the Great Danes jumped the front-yard fence and attacked her Rottweiler.

"My father was walking my dogs, and the Great Danes bit my Rottweiler down to the bone," Hennessy said. "It's strange that they act this way, because Great Danes don't usually have this kind of personality, they're known as gentle giants."

Many of the residents who live in the ranch-style homes on the dirt street near the Las Vegas city limits own animals.

"I've never questioned Michael going over to feed the dogs," Hennessy said. "Keeping animals is the reason people live out here."

Sue Mahany, secretary of the Great Dane Club of America, said this morning she was shocked and surprised by news of the attacks. Great Danes earned the "gentle giant" nickname for their sweet dispositions and good-natured character, Mahany said.

"It's extremely unusual behavior for a Great Dane to bite anyone, especially a person the dog already knows," said Mahany in an interview from her Illinois home. "But we are talking about animals, and when dogs are in a group like that, it can be a pack mentality."com