France's minister for the elderly was forced to defend her dog Dixie today after reports emerged of the German Shepherd scratching a child and biting a municipal police officer.
In a statement on her blog, minister Michele Delaunay denounced the media for blowing the reports out of proportion, saying a French radio station had "devoted an equal amount of time" to the dog story as to "the bloody clearing" of protest camps in Cairo.
She admitted in the blog that Dixie had, as reported in French media, scratched the upper lip of a nine-year-old boy on Sunday while out for a walk in the southwestern beach town of Hossegor.
But Delaunay, a former doctor, said the scratch was small, superficial and would cause no permanent damage. She said she had visited the boy several times since the incident.
She also admitted to reports that emerged in March of Dixie jumping on a municipal police officer, but denied claims that the dog had bitten the officer.
"There was no injury, not a scratch on the officer's clothing, not even a trace of dust," she wrote on the blog.
"There is no doubt that if (the dog) had bitten the child or the municipal police officer, this would be another matter... But Dixie has never bitten," she wrote.
