AUSTRALIA -- Guide Dogs NSW/ACT is urging the public to keep their pet dogs on leads and under control after a second guide dog was attacked, and in this case injured, by uncontrolled pet dogs in as many months.
The attacked happened in the Sydney suburb of Ryde on Friday 27 April as the guide dog, called Deena, was guiding her owner Penny to her home from the bus. The pair was returning from Chatswood where Penny works as an accounts assistant for St Vincent de Paul.
While Penny couldn’t see the attack well due to her vision being impaired by a degenerative condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa, she says it was very traumatising and that witnesses provided her with the details.
“As we’d turned into my street I heard a woman’s voice and the next thing I knew Deena was being attacked. It happened so quickly, so it was a blur to me,” said Penny. “I began calling out for someone to get the dogs off Deena but there was no response and the dogs got more aggressive. I was quite frantic.
The Staffies ripped into the four-year-old Labrador, who struggled to defend herself while in a harness and leash.
“Eventually someone got the dogs off Deena. A witness said Deena was bleeding from the neck and leg and they helped me take her to the vet. As well as puncture wounds from the attacking dogs, Deena had scraped the skin off one of her paws, which was very painful for her.”
Penny learnt from the witness that the attacking dogs had escaped from the side gate of a house on her street. The owner of the attacking dogs has since been fined by the local council.
“I was very angry about the attack and how aggressive the dogs were, but I’m pleased that the owner has taken action to put in better gates so the dogs won’t escape again,” said Penny.
“Deena is only young. She’s my first guide dog and she has literally changed my life, so I couldn’t imagine having to retire her as a result of this incident. I have issues with feeling isolated because I also have a hearing impairment, for which I wear hearing aids. Deena has changed everything, not just because she guides me around safely, but because she breaks the ice with people and they talk to me when they see us.”
(Northern District Times - May 15, 2012)
