An Angus dog owner has relived the horror of his tiny pet being savaged in ferocious attack on a local street.
Daniel Billinghurst was walking eight-year-old Yorkshire/Border terrier Dougal home past flats in Arbroath’s Dishlandtown Street when the little dog was savaged by a large out of control animal which he said appeared from “out of the blue”.
A local resident helped intervene to break up the horrifying incident, but not before Daniel’s pet was grabbed by the neck in the jaws of its powerful attacker and he himself suffered a hand injury during desperate attempts to rescue Dougal.
The terrier has been left a sizeable wound which required a number of stitches and has left Daniel with a £450 vets bill.
“It happened out of the blue,” said the 29-year-old, from Arbroath.
“As I walked down by the block of flats I saw a woman lying there and just a couple of seconds later a big down came running out and grabbed Dougal by the neck.
“When I saw what was happening I pulled him in on the lead and jumped on his, but the attacking dog got him.
“There was then a bit of a stalemate as owner jumped onto her dog but it wouldn’t let go at all.
“Luckily another girl came out and threw water over the other dog and it let Dougal go – I was so grateful to her,” added Daniel of the incident which happened last Thursday night around 9pm.
“Dougal’s quite a placid little dog and basically half his neck was skinned by the other dog, but thankfully it didn’t puncture right through the tissue.
“The staff at Abbey Vets have been great and I would like to thank them. Dougal will recover but it’ll take a bit of time.
“It doesn’t bear thinking about if it had been a toddler on reins learning to walk down the street and the same thing had happened,” he added.
“There’s a dangerous dog in that street and the owner seems to have no control over it,” added Daniel, who described the attack dog as a large Rottweiler/Staffie type animal.
Although the dog was initially seized, Daniel believes it is now back with its owner.
“I’m appalled that there might be no action taken over this,” he said.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Police Scotland can confirm that it received a report regarding an incident involving a dog in Dishlandtown Street, Arbroath, on the evening of May 3.
“A dog was seized, and enquiries into the incident are continuing.”
