A "lovely and bright" dog has been left needing 45 stitches after "15 seconds of bedlam". The owner, Roger Harrison-Jones, was left distraught by his decision to walk his dog off the lead, reports North Wales Live.
The 85-year-old says he was out with his cocker spaniel, Pepper, when she was attacked in Pestatyn. He claims that during the walk, she was savaged by another dog, despite it being on a lead.
Roger said: “It happened on my watch. I was walking along quite happily with the Cocker Spaniel off the lead when I was approached by another dog owner. To be fair, she had her dog on a lead. Even so, it lunged out and savaged Pepper. It was bedlam, a 15-second nightmare.
"We both struggled to pull them apart. I was so shocked I just wanted to move on, and it wasn’t for another 300 metres that I noticed a large flap of skin was hanging from Pepper.
"I feel guilty, it was on my watch and I should have had Pepper on a lead. If I had, I might have been able to get to them quicker and Pepper might have been able to get away.”
Following the incident, the spaniel was given more than 45 stitches when treated by a vet. However, a further operation was needed to redo the stitches when some of the damaged skin died, with vet bills passing £3,000.
Roger's daughter, Susan Harrison-Jones, shared a photo of Pepper’s wounds on social media to warn others of the need to have their pets on a lead when approaching unfamiliar dogs.
She said: “People have been saying there’s an epidemic of dog attacks in the area. There have been recent reports from Ffrith beach and the dunes, as well as the old railway line. I made the post to warn walkers of the dangers of dogs you don’t know. I don’t want anyone else to go through what my father has gone through. He has held his hands up and he is still beating himself up over the incident.”
Her post prompted an online debate over culpability, with some people suggesting the owner of Pepper’s attacker was at fault, despite her dog being on a lead. One person said: “That dog now has the taste of doing it again and should be muzzled on future walks."
Whilst accepting blame, Mr Harrison-Jones has some sympathy for this viewpoint. He said: “The dog was being controlled but because its lead was slack, it was able to lunge two or three feet to reach Pepper. What worries me is that it could have been my leg, or a child, it had gone for.”
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