In Season 5, Episode 13 of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, newbie Bronwyn Newport shared with the other women about her terrifying experience at the dog park.
She had taken one of her six boxers to the dog park. “There was a dog running around. He wasn’t barking, nothing seemed weird, but he was alone,” she explained. “So I reached out to pet him, and he did make a weird kind of skid move. He jerked away from me.”
Suddenly the dog circled around and lunged at her, biting Bronwyn behind the knee. In a panic at the time, Bronwyn realizes now she that “did everything wrong.”
Bronwyn Newport’s panic made the attack worse
“I know you’re not supposed to scream, you’re not supposed to jerk your arm,” she told People. “[But] I did all of those things. I totally freaked out. I’d never been bitten by a dog before. I totally lost my mind, and I honestly think I made it worse.”
“He did bite me behind the leg,” the new US citizen added. “He got me on the other side of my calf. As I tried to pull away, he got my other leg on the thigh. I think at that point I must have leaned forward or was trying to push him away. He ended up getting my right arm, where my bicep is, very badly and clamped onto my arm. I could not get him off.”
Fortunately, a bystander at the park jumped in and helped get the dog off of her. The police responded to the incident, and Bronwyn went to the hospital by ambulance.
“I had 37 separate bites when I went to the emergency room,” she said. “I had stitches in both my arm and my leg. When he clamped down on my bicep, he fractured it. I had a little hairline fracture on the bone, and the bruising was really intense and it was throbbing.”
Bronwyn and Todd paid for the dog’s medical care
It later came out that the dog was a foster animal whose caretaker left the dog alone to answer a phone call. In addition, the dog had medical issues that likely affected its behavior. In an act of supreme kindness, Brownyn and her husband Todd Bradley covered the cost of the dog’s medical care. They also made sure he was placed in a more responsible environment. In my book, that makes Bronwyn more of a hero rather than the “villain” costar Lisa Barlow thinks she is.
“I did feel for the dog,” she confessed. “I have rescue dogs who’ve been through it.”
“You’ve got to know if your dog is the kind of dog that can be at a dog park,” she added. “You have to be watching them. If it had been an older person or someone younger than me, it could have been much more life-threatening injuries. I’m grateful they weren’t.”
Even though she was still feeling the effects of the incident on the trip to Mexico, Bronwyn is “healed” now. She’s also working with a medical professional to prevent scarring.
“Honestly, even as a dog lover, I was terrified of dogs for a long time afterwards,” the fashion influencer said. “[But] the most important thing to me is that the dog is doing well, and I’m doing well.”
Even though Heather Gay compared Bronwyn’s energy to that of sue-happy former cast member Monica Garcia, animal lovers Bronwyn and Todd decided not to pursue any charges following the attack.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs on Wednesdays at 8/7c on Bravo.
TELL US – WERE YOU SHOCKED TO HEAR BRONWYN’S DESCRIPTION OF THE ATTACK? DO YOU THINK IT’S WISE TO TRY TO PET A DOG WITHOUT ASKING THE OWNER FOR PERMISSION?
