ELKHART -- He had just clambered over the fence enclosing his friend's yard to retrieve a baseball when it occurred.

"The dog just came out of nowhere," said Dylan Tesch, speaking from the living room of his Jimtown home, five and a half years after the fact. "He just charged at me from behind."

The German shephard -- he and his family never learned its name -- tore into his back and rear left thigh, refusing to let go, even as the boy tried to climb another fence to safety. "He just pulled me down," said Dylan, then 8 and now a 14-year-old eighth-grader at Jimtown Junior High. "I kicked it a few times."

An off-duty police officer from the neighborhood fired his gun in the air, scaring off the dog, at least momentarily. Then he shot it in the leg when it doubled back to attack again.

"I was pretty shocked and I didn't know what to do," Dylan recalled.

***

Dylan's stepfather Kevin Spry, an auto mechanic, figures owning a dog is kind of like being a parent. "It's a responsibility, just like having a kid," he said.

As such, the family kept dogs after the May 19, 2004, incident. They just made sure they were on top of things. They had a pit bull for a time, but had to have it put down after it bit visiting relatives on two separate occasions, requiring stitches each time.

Faith Tesch-Spry, Dylan's mom, figures the pit bull was just protecting the house. The dog wasn't that familiar with the relatives and each of the two incidents occurred after they crossed into the critter's fenced-in backyard space, alone. Still, you have to draw a line.

"He did it once and I was afraid of him turning on my kids," said Tesch-Spry.

***

Tesch-Spry had arrived home from work shortly after the attack on Dylan only to encounter her father, on hand to ease the news to his daughter. Then came the visit to the boy.

"I just lost it," she said, remembering the sight of her son at the hospital, still waiting to be stitched up. "It was still open."

A picture taken at the time shows deep gashes to Dylan's back and left hamstring area and multiple bright red scratch wounds over the boy's lower back. Spry reels off the final damage -- three 3-inch lacerations, two 2-inch lacerations and 12 puncture wounds. There were 32 or 33 stitches in all.

"Dylan was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Tesch-Spry.

***

As the city of Elkhart and Elkhart County mull new animal-control ordinances that would govern dangerous dogs, Dylan's got a few ideas of his own.

"Any person who has a dog should keep it chained or in a cage or not at all," he said.

That said, two dogs now live at his home, a Dachsund named Harley and a medium-sized mutt named Kane. A Rottweiler pup, courtesy of a relative's dog who recently gave birth, will soon move in.

"I don't really care," said Dylan, asked his thoughts on the coming of the pup.

For her part, Tesch-Spry sees room for nuance. It's not about the dog, but how it's raised, if it's properly socialized.

In fact, she really liked the pit bull, Junior, despite its indiscretions. When the dog, not even a year old, had to be put to sleep, "I cried like a baby."

As for the German shephard, though, both she and Dylan think that was a different matter. That dog should've been put down.

"The law should've stepped in," said Tesch-Spry.

***

The German shephard belonged to a middle-aged man from the neighborhood who lived in a house there, alone with the animal. The dog was frequently staked to a rope in the yard and had broken free the day it attacked Dylan. A portion of the rope was still dangling from its neck.

As Spry describes it, the man didn't face many repercussions. He helped with medical payments, but only after court officials ordered his paycheck garnished. But he got to keep the dog and Dylan even came across the critter on occasion, before the man finally moved away.

"Every time I'd see it, I'd go the opposite direction," Dylan said.

To this day, Dylan has scars on his back and thigh and doctors say they'll never go away. Still, the incident hasn't affected his physical mobility and Tesch-Spry knows it could have been worse.

"I thank God every day it wasn't his face," she said.