Boise - A member of the Ada County Sheriffs's Office K-9 Unit is in quarantine after it mauled a 13-year-old boy in Meridian.
The victim, Jacob Yoneda, says he can sum up how he feels in four words: "Sore and bruised up."
The Meridian teen says he and his little brother were riding their bikes to the library Wednesday when they spotted the dog coming toward them.
Jacob says he yelled at his brother to ride faster, but for him-- it was too late.
"(The dog) caught up and ripped me off my bike, with my backpack, and then started chewing on me, like a toy," Jacob said.
The Sheriff's Office says the canine that mauled Jacob was trained in Holland, where bicycles are often used to help dogs identify their prey.
Jacob's mother, Bobbi Yoneda, says she's relieved the dog-- a Belgian Malinois--wasn't wild and had its shots, "But to have this be a police dog and know that it would attack without command is scary."
The family says they owe Jacob's safety to Meridian resident Dave Warren.
"Mr. Warren protected my son and helped wrestle the dog down," Yoneda said.
The Ada County Sheriff's Office says the dog was staying with its handler at his home in Meridian at the time of the incident.
"This is the first time the dog's exhibited any behavior like this," said Capt. Ron Freeman of the Ada County Sheriff's Office.
German shepherd breeder Nancy Thomas Price has trained police dogs for over a decade, and says Belgian Malinois can be extremely aggressive, and must be trained to know when they can or can't bite.
She says that means letting them out into the open more often.
"I really do think the dogs need to be de-sensitized to the community, because whenever they're deployed they're in the community," Thomas Price said.
The Sheriff's Office is taking responsibility for the mauling.
"In this case, we let the community down and we're going to take steps to make sure it doesn't happen again," Freeman said.
Bobbi Yolenda says the county has offered to pay her son's medical expenses, but a future lawsuit isn't completely out of the question.
"I don't know. The windows are open, but that's not the goal," she said. "The main goal is my son is safe."
While Jacob may harbor some life-long scars, he says he isn't scared of the animal commonly referred to as man's best friend.
"I still like big dogs," he said.
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