NEWTON FALLS, Ohio - Three German Shepherds that allegedly attacked a 52-year-old woman working at Venture Plastics Inc., on Ravenna-Warren Road on Monday are now in quarantine at the Trumbull County Dog Pound.

Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe tells 21 News the Warren woman was attacked as she walked between two buildings at the facility and she received multiple lacerations to both of her legs.  The victim told authorities the attack was unprovoked. 

The dogs also killed some chickens while on the loose and prior to being caught the same dogs were allegedly aggressive towards a sheriff's deputy who fired a shot at the dogs.  The animals were not hit, but the gunshot sent them running into the woods.

Then early Thursday morning 21 News obtained exclusive video of the German Shepherds as they were located on East River Road in Newton Falls.  Alert citizen Carrie Williams and her husband spotted the dogs on their property on East River Road in Newton Falls and called 911.

It was around 7 am when Williams put her own small dog Skylar outside and a few minutes later she noticed the three German Shepherds were in her backyard not far from her dog.  She called to Skylar and finally got him to come inside, then she dialed 911 and told her husband Ben about the German Shepherds in the yard.  He went outside and grabbed the gate and locked it.  Making sure the German Shepherds were not going anywhere.

The sheriff called the owner of the dogs David Hanson of Newton Falls, and he put the dogs on a leash and put them in his vehicle.  Then he drove them to the Trumbull County Dog Pound where they will be under quarantine for 10 days to make sure they don't have rabies. 

Gwen Logan, the Executive Dog Warden at the Trumbull County Dog Warden's Office, said, "The three German Shepherds in question that we have right now at our facility have been a problem for the Newton Falls community for a very long period of time.  This summer we cited him for them running at large.  They have been running and taking down animals, they've been hunting and they've been off the property many, many times.  Numerous times, also by the Braceville Police."

The dog warden says the owner has repeatedly failed to contain his animals to his own property.

In this case Hanson pled not guilty for failure to restrain.
 
His attorney, Harry DePietro, argues the dogs are friendly and have never attacked anyone before.

"They've gotten loose before, incident where they've killed some ducks of a neighbor not too many months ago, other than that these dogs have not been aggressive to people or animals," Attorney DePietro said.

Sheriff Paul Monroe said, "Our number one concern was the safety of the public."

Now it will be up to a judge to decide what happens to the dogs since they have now been declared vicious.

According to the Trumbull County Dog Warden if the owner does get the dogs back the owner could be ordered to get each dog insured for $100,000, he may also be forced to keep the dogs in an enclosure that has a top on it so the dogs can't escape, and if the dogs are walked or off the property they may be required to be muzzled.

But the owner's attorney says they will fight the label of vicious dog.