First-hand experiences of being savaged by a dog
LAST week saw yet another innocent bystander attacked by vicious dogs. And yesterday the ET revealed that two people a month are attacked by dogs in the city.
LAST week saw yet another innocent bystander attacked by vicious dogs. And yesterday the ET revealed that two people a month are attacked by dogs in the city.Is man's best friend turning against us, or is it a case of owners not being able to control their pets? Jemma Walton reports on the trouble with dogs.
NEVER mind the chewy bones and the comfy bed – the first thing anyone buying a puppy should think about is putting their new pet through basic socialisation training.
This is according to Sharon Wilson, who has trained pups for 19 years, and runs Angelic Dogs Training School.
She used to train dogs in Oxfordshire, where lots of people would bring puppies to be trained. "I have been quite shocked while running classes here," she said.
"Because people don't seem to bring their puppies along. I tend to see a lot of dogs when they're older, and people are having problems.
"But those problems could perhaps have been avoided if their dog had been socialised properly when they were a pup."
Sharon runs a basic eight-week training course, ideally for puppies aged 10 weeks. She said: "Dogs eight weeks old and under are like small children – they will investigate and are very open to everything.
"After eight weeks fear of the unknown kicks in, and they will react according to how they have been taught and what they have experienced in their first eight weeks.
"And so it is important that you get your dog from a breeder who has done some socialisation before you get your puppy from them at eight weeks."
Sharon said the point of training is to help bring dogs into the human world – which can be hard. "We tend to forget that dogs used to be working animals, but aren't really anymore. We expect them to sit at home for eight hours a day while we're at work," she said.
"And while they may be getting physical exercise, not all of them are getting mental stimulation, and that mental energy has to come out somehow, and not always in ways which are appropriate in a human environment.
"This is why heel work to music and agility classes can be helpful in keeping your dog happy."
Sharon said that no type of dog is more likely to be vicious than another, however, we need to take into account what each breed was bred for, understanding their needs and fulfilling their requirements to avoid them acting inappropriately.
"But you get good staffies and bad staffies, good German Shepherds and bad German shepherds," she added. "Two things are important when it comes to having a safe, happy dog - genes and environment.
"Finding out what a dog's parents were like will tell you a lot about what their puppy will be like, but then the environment they are in will also need to be right – they will still need to be shown and helped to live with humans."
Sharon said all dogs can be trained to be better, although some live in the wrong environment for them, and so will never be 100 per cent happy.
She said: "I had one client who unfortunately had to put their dog to sleep because it had a problem with children. We got it so that it could tolerate children, but children are unpredictable, and might tug its ear or something, which could upset it.
"They tried and tried, but realised that they had to manage the dog all the time, and that just wasn't working out."
Angelic Dogs, based on Peterborough Road, Crowland, is available on 01529 241163.
When picking a dog trainer, always choose one which is a member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.Dogs used as a status symbol
MEN treating dogs as macho status symbols are partly to blame for the rise in dog attacks, according to the Eastern Region's acting RSPCA superintendent.
Simon Parker said: "Dog attacks are not a daily occurrence in many towns, but it is obvious that this year has been a particularly bad year for them, particularly in the north of England, where tragedies have happened because of them.
"This could partly because a growing number of people are using dogs as macho status symbols. For instance, neutering an aggressive male dog can often stop him being aggressive, but some men I have spoken to are reluctant to castrate their dog, as they think their dog should be 'whole', but that's a fallacy.
"Neutered dogs are just much more likely to be calm, and are no reflection on their owner's masculinity."
Mr Parker said the RSPCA are looking into a case in Nottingham where a dog seems to have been set on to some cats, so it would attack them.
This reflects a change in the way we see dogs – a lot of us no longer simply think of them as pets, but as a symbol of our toughness, or as mobile burglar alarms.
"That is not what a dog is for," he said. "And if you're leaving it by itself, guarding your house for 10 hours at a time while you are at work, that can lead to boredom and aggressive behaviour."
Mr Parker added that a dog's behaviour is 10 per cent down to the dog, 90 per cent down to its owners.
"I would encourage all owners to take their puppy to training as soon as they get it, and to continue training it throughout its life," he added.
Mum says toddler is lucky to be alive after attack
A TODDLER could be scarred for life a routine visit to the vets went horribly wrong.
Terrified Caroline Herd stood by helpless as her 20-month-old daughter Claudia Dugmore was savaged by three dogs, having to watch as they sank their teeth into the back of her head and ripped flesh off her skull.
Without a second thought the 30-year-old former dog warden leapt into the frenzied attack and fought off the huge dogs – thought to be boxer crosses – to save tiny Claudia.
Staff at the veterinary surgery near where the attack happened dialled 999 and paramedics rushed the youngster to Peterborough District Hospital for treatment to her wounds, which included a two-inch flap of skin ripped from the back of her head.
She is likely to be left with scars to the back of her head and to her forehead.But Miss Herd, of Godsey Lane, Market Deeping, near Peterborough, said it was lucky her little one had not been killed in the attack, which took place a couple of weeks ago.
She said: "If I'd left her another 10 seconds they would have killed her. The wounds were down to the skull. She has got teeth holes inside her head. There are teeth marks all over her."
Miss Herd had taken her nine-week old kitten to the Riverside Veterinary Clinic, in Cradge Bank, Spalding, on Wednesday.
She left the kitten inside the surgery to walk her Jack Russell around the car park while she carried her daughter. But a man emerged from the surgery with three dogs. One got loose and ran over to her.
She said: "The man was shouting at the dog to come back and I lifted my Jack Russell off the ground by her lead so she was dangling above them. The dog was leaping up to try and get a bite of her. The other two then ran over and were leaping up at her, I knew that they were going to rip my dog to shreds. I put my little girl down and held my Jack Russell above my head. But then they turned on her. I never expected them to."
Anyone with any information should call Lincolnshire police on 01775 722233, quoting incident number 131 on August 8.
Boy's cheek left hanging off
IT was such an innocent scene – children were playfully kicking a football about on a green.
But their peace was shattered by the blood-curdling screams as an American bulldog tore into a four-year-old boy.
George Brown, pictured, was left covered in blood with his cheek "hanging off" after the attack in Norfolk Road, Huntingdon, in August 2006.
He faced 200 internal and external stitches as surgeons battled for four hours to save his face.
By chance, the dog's teeth missed the brave youngster's nerves by millimetres, and he can talk and smile once more.
In November last year George's mum Danielle watched at Peterborough Crown Court as the dog's owner was jailed for nine months for failing to control the powerful animal.
Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Brown said the family had moved house following the harrowing attack.
She added: "We've moved to Offord, which is a quiet village, and the people there have been wonderful. It's not the same as having my mum three doors down from me, but George will never go back there so this has completely changed our lives."
"I am hoping we can all draw a line under this whole thing now. George is going to be scarred but we don't know to what extent yet.
The dog was put down after the attack.Woman mauled by black bull mastiff
A CITY mum feared she would be left scarred for life after being attacked by a "monster dog" at Ferry Meadows country park in July.
Jacqueline Marshall, pictured left, was left nursing painful two-inch deep wounds to her upper arm and back after a black bull mastiff mauled her while she was enjoying a day out with her family at Ferry Meadows, Peterborough.
Miss Marshall was rushed to A & E by paramedics after the animal "charged" towards her, launching two savage onslaughts.
The screaming housewife crawled into bushes to escape after being bitten on her upper arm and back.
Talking to TheET after the attack, Miss Marshall, from Cathwaite, Paston, said: "If it was a small child the dog had attacked, they wouldn't have stood a chance."
Dog thrown in air like a rag doll
A SHAKEN pensioner fought back tears as she relived the moment her beloved dog was thrown around in the air like "a rag doll" in a savage attack by a snarling Staffordshire bull terrier.
When the animal had finished its onslaught, which happened in June, Diane Ray's miniature Schnauzer Rosie was left laying limp and lifeless in a pool of blood with horrific injuries.
The 64-year-old grandmother from Orton Brimbles, Peterborough, told the ET that she was enjoying an early evening walk with two-year-old Rosie when a pair of Staffordshire bull terriers, wearing bright red collars, came racing round the corner – one of them lunged at Rosie, sinking its teeth into her leg. It then flung the animal around, ripping ligaments in her legs and stomach.
Mrs Ray rushed to pull the animal off, but its sheer brute force knocked her to the ground.
Eventually, the male owner appeared, and managed to grab his dog, but the damage had already been done.
The retired sales manager said: "I'm going to be frightened of those dogs now. I'll be petrified to take her out for a walk when she recovers."
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Monday 15 March 2010
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