Woman mauled by trusted dog on Christmas

ALEDO, Ill. (KWQC) — Samara Deeb trusted the dog that mauled her on Christmas Day. She had known the animal for two years and had even placed a gift under her Christmas tree for it.

With no warning, a friend’s dog attacked Deeb outside her home.

“I got on my other knee and was crying and just letting it chew my leg until I got it off,” Deeb said.

She had one thought going through her head:“I could die.”

The dog owner eventually stopped the attack, but Deeb wasn’t out of trouble.

“I knew that if I didn’t put a tourniquet on, I might have a problem,” she said.

An ambulance rushed her to a hospital, where a doctor gave her 23 stitches.

“It hurt really, extremely bad,” Deeb said.

A TV6 investigation shows Deeb’s case isn’t unusual. Freedom of Information Act requests for dog bite data across the Quad-Cities found random animal attacks are rare. In most cases, victims know the dog that bites them.

TV6 zeroed in on data from Rock Island, where the city documented 85 dog bites in 2025. Nearly two-thirds of the victims knew the dog.

That was true in Deeb’s case. She’d known the dog for two years.

“It had a gift under my Christmas tree,” she said.

Most cities and counties require a quarantine period after a bite, either at home or in a kennel. In some cases, repeat biters can be seized by authorities or euthanized.

Riley Olson, a local accredited dog trainer, said if people learn the warning signs, bites are preventable.

“A lot of them happen while we are right down in the dog’s business, either giving them a hug or lots of cuddles and not noticing that our dogs might be a little uncomfortable,” the trainer said.

Deeb’s recovery was worse than the bite.

“I almost died from the infection. I could have definitely lost a limb. I still don’t know if I might lose my limb,” she said.

Deeb is being treated by a wound specialist and met with a plastic surgeon because her injury is still not healing properly.

According to the police report, the dog owner told police Deeb was getting a blanket out of the car when the dog started to attack. The dog was briefly confined at its owner’s home.

Mercer County Animal Control investigated and determined the dog was not a dangerous animal.