A decorated army veteran was left with PTSD after being savaged by a dog in a pal’s house.
Former warrant officer Damien Jones, 56, was thrown to the ground by a Dogue de Bordeaux, which ripped into his bicep, causing nerve damage.
The ex-soldier said the attack led to an “uncontrollable spiral” that meant he was unable to work for months and nearly ended up on the streets.
Damien was visiting the house of a friend who had fostered the animal – a breed also known as French mastiff .
He said the dog sniffed him a couple of times when he entered the house, but gave no indication it was going to attack.
The veteran said: “It’s kind of fuzzy but I remember I ended up on the floor, with my back to the wall.
“It had ripped my shirt off and had sunk its teeth into my left bicep.
“I was punching it trying to get it off but I could feel it ripping inside my arm. I was trying to pull my arm out of his mouth.”
Damien said a surgeon told him he was lucky not to lose his arm. He had five operations and was left with some deformity.
The former soldier said he had seen horrors during his 24 years’ service, including in Northern Ireland and Iraq – yet it was the dog attack that gave him flashbacks.
Damien, from Dorset, awarded the Queen’s commendation for his work in Bosnia, said: “This event gave me PTSD, especially about dogs of that size and that kind of face. I have to avoid them.”
A dog owner himself, he walks his pet Cooper at quieter times of the day.
He added: “When you go into a conflict situation you plan, you rehearse – you’re mentally prepared for it. With this it was totally unexpected. I felt helpless and it shattered my self-confidence.”
The incident left Damien unable to work. Savings gone, he says he was three months away from becoming homeless.
Damien was attacked in November 2017 but has only just received a payout from his pal’s insurance company after getting help from a solicitor.
It should be mandatory for pet owners to have insurance, he believes.
He added: “People forget what dogs were bred for. A lot of time it’s for fighting and sport, so certain traits are bred into the dog. And those switches can turn back on.”
