Joyce Hackett, of Pankhurst Rise, tells how she was waiting with her two Shelties at the kerb on the corner of Ninfield Road with Mount Idol when the staffie slipped its collar and rushed at them.
It began to viciously maul one of her dogs, dragging it into the road and shaking it by the neck.
The Staffie turned on her also and bit through her left hand.
“I was trying to get it off my dog,” she said, “and people stopped their cars in the road and tried to help me.
“One man got a blanket out of his car and threw it over the Staffie.
“We managed to pull him away and a gentleman in his 60’s tried to pin the dog down.
“We tried to get the owner to get the dog back on the collar and lead but he couldn't manage it.
“Then the dog broke away and attacked me again.”
By this time, 8.30am on Thursday July 11, a small crowd had gathered with people getting out of cars and pedestrians coming to help but before police officers arrived the owner managed to get the staffie back under control and left the scene.
Pensioner Joyce said this was the third time the Staffie had attacked but she previously organised not to be out at the same time to avoid confrontation.
“It was horrendous,” she said. “The dog just came out of nowhere. But what if this happened with a child?”
She was taken to the Conquest afterwards and had stitches in her finger while her Sheltie Kai suffered a swollen neck and bruising.
Meanwhile both Joyce and husband Brian want to pay tribute to the people who rushed to help - the man with the blanket which they would like to return, and the woman who gathered up Joyce’s dogs and looked after them - the couple have already sent her a bouquet to say thanks.
“They were total strangers,” she said, “but they were absolutely brilliant.”
(Bexhill Observer - July 19, 2013)
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