Vile dog owner speeds off Dukes of Hazzard-style after letting vicious pet rip autistic boy's ear open

Daily Mail​

07-08-2025

A heartless dog owner fled the scene in terrifying fashion after his pet savagely mauled a seven-year-old autistic boy at a school playground in Alaska, nearly ripping the child's ear off.
The horrifying incident occurred last week while the boy was with his siblings and father at the playground in Wasilla, KTUU reported.
The victim, Julien Houk, was playing near the swings when a man came into the playground with a large dog and two children in tow.
Within moments, the animal attacked.
'All of a sudden, the dog lunged up onto [Julien] and started biting him multiple times and ripping and tearing his ear,' the boy's father, Joshua Houk, told KTUU.
'I quickly grabbed my son, picked him up, ran down to my car and grabbed a T-shirt and pressed it up against his head so it stopped the bleeding.'
While the family rushed to safety, the dog owner reportedly told the children accompanying him to get in the car and then tore off across the playground.
'I noticed that he was already in his car. He was yelling at his kids, like, 'come on, we got to go,' Joshua told KTUU. 'By the time I got to his car to try and take a picture of the license plate, he just sped off.'
Video footage showed the owner dangerously speeding away along an asphalt portion of the playground as well as adjacent playing fields.
Julien was rushed to the emergency room, where doctors stitched his ear back together.
'It was barely connected on the top and the bottom of it, you could pull his ear forward and you could see down his ear canal,' his father said. 'I'm sure if just the dog had a little bit more time, my son's ear would be totally ripped off.'
The boy's family said the trauma has taken a serious toll.
'The first couple days he was nonverbal. He didn't say much of anything,' Joshua said. 'He sleeps sitting up. He won't lay down on his pillow. He's barely eating.'
But Houk said the good news is that 'he is alive.'
The boy's grandmother, Sherry Ryan Tunilla, shared footage of the man speeding off on Facebook while asking for help to identify him.
'We would appreciate any help in locating this person and his dog,' she wrote.
'We want to be sure this dog is healthy and has his shots. Also our thoughts go to the children this man had in his car ensuring they are safe as they too were endangered when he sped off at such a high rate of speed.'
Local animal control officials said that dog was found and impounded last week, KTUU reported.
The agency spoke to one of the animal's owners, but have not yet located the driver who fled the scene.