Dispute over dog ends in assault

An argument over an unleashed dog spilled over into violence in the evening of November 3 when a man allegedly broke a woman’s fingers, according to Hangzhou police.

The incident took place in a residential neighborhood in Yuhang District in Hangzhou. The police said the dog owner, a 31-year-old man, actively assaulted the victim, a 34-year-old woman, by striking her with closed fists. According to a statement (in Chinese) released by the police, the dispute started when the woman was having a walk with her 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. They were chased by an unleashed dog. To protect her kids from potential injury, the mother tried to scare the dog away but soon found herself in a confrontation with the dog owner and his girlfriend.

As the dispute escalated, the man pushed the woman onto a car and punched her in the head. When the woman walked away with her kids, the man knocked her down from behind and continued attacking her.

The entire incident was captured by CCTV camera.

People who were at the scene later told media that the victim used obscenities when arguing with the couple, which they believe irritated the assailant. Others said that the man, a Hangzhou local, was prejudiced against the victim because she is a migrant to the city.

Disputes over dogs happen almost everyday in China. And because the battle between dog-lovers and dog-haters became so heated this year, some of these conflicts have turned violent, even deadly. Last month, a man in Ningbo stabbed three neighbors to death over a dispute about their pet dog.