Chippenham owners dogs tore open puppy’s leg (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Chippenham owners dogs tore open puppy’s leg

11:00am Monday 18th February 2013 in News

A five-month-old puppy was set upon in an unprovoked attack by two Jack Russell terriers in Chippenham.

Claire Prangle had to pay £258 in vets’ bills after an emergency operation, followed by a second when her Irish setter’s wound became infected.

She said she was subjected to a barrage of swearing when she asked the terriers’ owners for their details.

She was out walking her two dogs on Friday, February 1, in the donkey field near Sheldon School.

The terriers first went for her eight-year-old Irish setter Spirit, who took fright and bolted. Spirit ran across Bristol Road and made her way home.

Miss Prangle said they then turned onto her young puppy Chase. They tore open his leg before their owners managed to stop the attack, which left him with a gash the size of a golf ball.

She said: “If my dog did that to another I’d be absolutely horrified. It can’t have gone on for much more than a minute but it seemed to be forever, it was very frightening. Blood was pouring out.

“Poor Chase is very nervous when we go out now.”

Miss Prangle is worried that a child may get hurt and is warning all her friends to be on the lookout for the two black, white and tan dogs.

She said: “The field is next to a school, and if these dogs can do that to my puppy, what could they do to a toddler? You get a lot of old people and people with children in that field. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Miss Prangle, who works for Wiltshire Council, reported the incident to police and to the council’s dog warden service.

She said: “I remember seeing them walk down the road with the Jack Russells just before it happened. I noticed them because I thought they looked a bit out of control.

“I think they were on the lead in the field as well but they didn’t have control of them. When I asked for their details they were f’ing and blinding for ages – they had really foul mouths.”

She has seen the dogs since being walked along Bath Road.

Section three of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 makes it an offence for the owner of a dog and any other person in charge of it at the time to allow any dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place. A dog is considered to be out of control if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the dog will injure a person.

Any dangerous dog should be reported to the council’s dog warden service immediately on 0300 456 0100.