MEXICO — A local woman was hospitalized Thursday afternoon after she was bitten while trying to separate her two fighting dogs.

Police Chief James Theriault said Katie Child was in her apartment Thursday afternoon when her full-blooded pitbull and a golden retriever/pitbull mix began fighting.

“She tried to get between them and stop the fighting, and both dogs bit her on the hand,” Theriault said.

Animal Control Officer Anne Simmons-Edmunds, with the help of Mexico officer Holly Poulin, arrived and quarantined the dogs.

Simmons-Edmunds said Friday that under state law “all dogs that bite are required to be quarantined for 10 days, whether they bit a stranger, their owner or another dog.”

“In this case, the owners have agreed to quarantine the dogs within their own apartment,” Simmons-Edmunds said. “They put each dog in a separate room, and in 10 days, they’ll be brought to the vet’s office for a checkup. If the vet says they’re OK, the dogs will be released.”

Simmons-Edmunds said the fight likely occurred as the result of a dominance issue between the dogs.

“The pitbull was actually the father of the other dog, and neither have been neutered,” she said. “While it’s hard to say exactly what happened there, it sounds like it could have been one dog trying to assert its dominance over the other.”

Theriault said Child “was bleeding like a stuck pig,” and had to be hospitalized.

“Med-Care later told me that after a few stitches, she should be OK,” Theriault said, “but it was a pretty nasty looking bite.”

mdaigle@sunjournal.com