Photo: Contributed

A Kelowna man was attacked by three dogs Tuesday morning in Glenmore.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells Castanet that he was over at a family member’s house helping with renovations when he was attacked by the large dogs when he stepped outside to throw out garbage.

“I looked at them and went, uh oh, something’s not right here. Of course being around police dogs, I could see them in sort of an attack mode,” said the retired Mountie.

The former officer remained calm in the tense situation, allowing the leader of the pack to take a grip of his right hand.

“Rather than fight them the best thing to do is stay calm. So I brought my arms towards my chest to cover my right hand and to keep it away from them and the same one attacked my left elbow.”

That’s when his wife stepped out of the house and he backed up slowly to protect her just before the owner’s family member came running down the street to help them.

“They broke off when they realized I wasn’t going to fight back, which probably saved a lot more bites.”

The owners of the dog were cooperative and apologetic for the incident and offered to pay for any medical bills.

RCMP confirmed that police and paramedics were called to the scene around 11:20 a.m. Tuesday.

The man suffered bite punctures in his right hand and left elbow and was checked out at Kelowna General Hospital to make sure no ligaments were damaged.

“When I went to the hospital it was a booster shot and the wounds were cleaned and I got a prescription for antibiotics,” he said, confirming no stitches were necessary.

The 59-year-old man says this incident had not deterred him from playing or petting dogs, as he’s a dog lover, and just wanted to share his story to remind people to remain calm in these types of situations.

“Most people want to fight the dog and that's the worst thing you can do because all that does is pump up their adrenaline so they want to keep fighting,” he adds.

“The big thing is when you’re faced with a situation where a dog is very aggressive, the worst thing you can do, is become aggressive yourself because that’s only going to agitate the animal.”

Other than getting attacked by a rooster when he was young, this was the first time he’s been attacked by an animal.

Police confirmed the owner of the dogs has been identified "and the matter is currently under investigation.”

Photo: Contributed