Dog Involved in Attack Put Down

***UPDATE 6:35 P.M.***The dog owner tells ABC 17 News that the German Shepherd has been put down.***ORIGINAL STORY***In a story ABC 17 News first reported Tuesday night, a dog is now in the possession of the Columbia/Boone County Animal Control after biting a child.According to supervisor Molly Aust, a German Shepherd bit a girl just before 6 p.m. in the 4300 block of West Bethany Drive. Neighbors say the 3-year-old girl pushed open a gate to a neighbor’s property and the dog bit the girl on the nose and wrist. She was taken to a local hospital where she received stitches for her nose and a splint for a broken wrist.”The dog took a chunk out of her nose,” said the mother of the child, Katherine Aldridge. “They had to do plastic surgery and close it up. Puncture wound to her wrist and it fractured a bone in her wrist.”The dog owner says the German Shepherd was just protecting her daughter.”I understand what the parents think,” said owner Eva Hughes. “My daughter was home alone… the little girl pushed the door open, it doesn’t latch, my daughter was home alone. I wasn’t there and he was there to protect and he protected. It just unfortunately happened to be a little girl and not a robber.”Animal Control confirmed the same dog bit a child in August and the boy was returning toys he had borrowed.Aust says the dog was “not friendly” Tuesday night and it is now at Central Missouri Humane Society for evaluation. The county’s vicious dog ordinance requires Animal Control officers to submit in writing to the Health Department a request to have a dog be declared “vicious.” At this time, a request has not been made because the investigation could take a few days.The dog’s owner says she is moving because the landlord will no longer allow her to keep the dog.The family of the girl say they plan on suing the dog’s owner for medical expenses.