By Dustin Lemmon

A 14-month-old girl who was bitten by her family’s golden retriever was taken to University Hospitals in Iowa City to undergo surgery.

Dayna Maiers of rural Donahue, Iowa, suffered a “severe laceration” to her head when she was bitten Sunday, Capt. Mike Brown of the Scott County Sheriff’s Department said.

Brown said Dayna’s mother, Janelle Maiers, was trying to remove a bowl from the dog’s mouth when the incident happened shortly after 5 p.m. He said the dog had climbed into a cupboard to get the bowl.

The dog apparently became agitated and lashed out, biting the child in the process, Brown said.

An ambulance transported the child from her home on River Camp Road to a local hospital before she was transferred to Iowa City, Brown said.

Dayna’s condition was unavailable Monday, but Brown said the child had surgery in Iowa City.

Brown described the retriever as a “family dog” who had lived with the family for a while.

“It was a friendly family dog that had never given the family problems before,” he said.

Brown said the case was referred to Scott County Animal Control. No information was available from the animal control office Monday about what will be done with the dog.