Dog owner in Evergreen Home Depot biting incident charged with misdemeanor

Charges have been filed against the owner of a Great Dane believed to have bitten a woman inside a Colorado store.

The charge is called "dog biting under owner's control, off of the owner's premises." It's a misdemeanor, but the more serious of the two possible charges the owner might have faced, and it can carry a sentence of a few months in jail or a fine of several hundred dollars.

It happened at the Evergreen Home Depot at 1014 El Rancho Road on March 31.

"The husband was issued the summons because he held the leash when the incident occurred," Jenny Fulton, a spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff Office, told CBS News Colorado.

Pictures were distributed by the sheriff's office of the dog, the female owner and the trainer after they had left the store without leaving contact information. The owner who is charged, William Lockler, is not in the photo.

Fulton added, "the male dog owner said he asked the victim how she was and the victim said she was okay, but the victim doesn't recall being asked that and I guess she was holding her nose and bleeding from the face."

CBS News Colorado went to the dog owner's home in Evergreen and was told by a woman present to call their attorney. That attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Home Depot's dog policy is up to each individual store and the the Evergreen location is dog-friendly.

Jeff Johnson, who is unrelated to this case, says he got similar advice about where to train his pet with treats for an exercise called four on the floor.

"We were told to go to other stores like Home Depot, Home Depot specifically mentioned to try that same exercise to get a dog used to other people," he said.

Home Depot told us it is not aware of dog training activities going on in its stores.