Vicious dog attacks leave Homerton woman scared to go outside

[This article is annoying because they don't say what kind of dog is doing all this...]

UNITED KINGDOM -- A disabled woman has been left terrified to leave her house after a neighbourhood dog killed her pet Chihuahua and tried to attack her.

Lorraine Foster, 48, of Harrowgate Road, Homerton, described in vivid detail how the dog, which was roaming without a leash, tore apart Tilly the Chihuahua “like a lion eating its prey” on July 15.

Lorraine said: “My friend offered to walk my six dogs; he took three out first, all on leads. Then we heard shouting and howling, it all happened so quickly.

“My daughter Crystal was screaming and the police were everywhere – I don’t know who called them – everyone on my estate was out.”

The dog had been chasing a fox when it spotted Tilly, grabbed her and ran off.

Lorraine said: “She didn’t stand a chance. I could hear bubbles coming out of her body like filling a plastic bottle in bathwater.

“The vet took her straight away but the following morning they rang to say Tilly had passed away in her sleep.”

Lorraine, who is diabetic and has limited mobility, has been terrorised by the dog since last August in four separate incidents.

She said: “I remember the first one like it was yesterday. It was August 27 last year, and this dog just came storming up and went for my Staffordshire/Akita cross, Fluffy.

“It literally had its jaws around my dog’s neck. My friend tried to pull the dog away and his finger got stuck inside the dog’s mouth so he was getting dragged along.”

Lorraine added her friend, Anthony Caffery, who helps her with her dogs, suffered a permanent deformity has a result of the attack.

Fluffy was attacked again in February and needed stitches in her paws, when the dog managed to enter Lorraine’s house through an open door.

Last week the dog also ran at Lorraine while she was out hanging her washing.

She said: “What really frightened me was that it looked at me then started growling. The dog tried to jump over the fence around my flat but one of my plant pots was too big. The plant pot saved me.

“Now I am paranoid about leaving the house. I keep thinking, what if it’s a child next?”

Police are investigating the issue further.

(Hackney Gazette - Aug 3, 2014)