A Lanarkshire man has been left traumatised after a savage dog attack landed him in hospital.
Jamie Nicholson had his own blood “spraying all over” him when a golden retriever sank its teeth deep into his hand.
He has suffered sleepless nights and has not been able to leave his home since the terrifying incident took place at a park in Hamilton on Saturday evening.
The vicious golden retriever ran the length of a football park before lunging for Jamie's partner and their own puppy.
But as Jamie jumped to their rescue, the beast turned on him and bit his hand.
The 30-year-old, while yelling in pain, was unable to let go of his attacker in fear that it would continue its pursuit on his partner who had been pushed flat on his back from the dog's initial approach.
The situation worsened as Jamie was left covered in his own blood, leaving his clothes, including his shoes and socks, soaked.
Speaking of the traumatic ordeal, Jamie told Lanarkshire Live : “We were in the park literally five minutes. We were at one end and that dog was at the other end, and it ran up to us and within seconds of it approaching, it started growling and went on the attack.
“Luckily my partner, who had a hold of our dog on the lead managed to try and pull him behind his legs to shield him from the attack. But as he did this, the golden retriever lunged up on top of him and put him flat on his back.
“Just as it did this it made another lunge for his face and my instinct kicked in in that split second and I grabbed its harness and pulled it off him.
“But as I’ve done that, the dog turned round and sunk its teeth into me.
“If I let go of the dog it was going to attack my partner and my dog again, so I had to keep hold of it even though it had bitten me.
“I could only deal with the pain and the blood pouring all out my hand and going all over me at the same time as trying to stop the attack going any further.
“The blood went all down my arm, my jeans and actually went into my socks and the inside of my trainers, that’s how much there was.
“I let out a scream when the dog bit me because it felt like it caught me right on the bone."
Jamie described the owner of the golden retriever as "careless" and has since reported the matter to police.
He was rushed straight to hospital at the time where his wounds required irrigation and he was given a tetanus shot.
Jamie was also checked for bone and muscle damage and required stitches to his hand. He is now on a course of antibiotics as part of his treatment.
The 30-year-old already suffers from anxiety and mobility issues and admits the trauma of Saturday's attack has set him back with his mental health.
However, he knows the attack could have been far worse had he not intervened, adding the dog was "only inches away from sinking it's teeth into my partner's face".
Frighteningly, there were also young children playing nearby as Jamie told how he is glad no one else was hurt.
"It's totally unacceptable", he added. He now wants to see action taken.
“I would prefer if the dog is destroyed because I’m more than convinced it was the dog owner’s grandchildren he had with him. And they had come over after his dog approached us and our dog.
“So that puts kids in dangers as the park is frequented daily by kids playing football."
Now, Jamie wants to send a message to the public that any dog, even a "family friendly" golden retriever is capable of an attack, as he warns locals "not to judge a book by its cover".
His own eight-month old puppy is a Rottador, a cross between a Rottweiler and Labrador, the former the victim of "bad stigma", Jamie says.
"I know how unfairly certain breeds, especially Rottweilers, are treated in society.
“This out of control vicious beast was a two-year old golden retriever, a breed said to be ‘family friendly’ and it attacked not only an eight-month old Rottweiler, which are seen as 'devil dogs' who aren't approachable but also two adults in a public park with small children nearby."
And now still trying to recover mentally from the ordeal, Jamie said: “I haven't slept properly in the two days since and I've been having nightmares and sweats about the sheer aggression that could have killed my dog."
"I suffer from severe anxiety that often means I don't feel able to leave home a lot and the one day I do I end up traumatised and seriously injured", he added.
Commenting on the incident, a Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On Sunday 29 May, 2022 police received a report of a dog attack from the previous evening in a park close to Gordon Street, Hamilton.
"One dog attacked another and an owner received a bite injury and attended Accident and Emergency. Enquiries are ongoing.”
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