Palmerston dog attack victim left with blood 'everywhere'

NEW ZEALAND -- A North Otago man says he feared for his life during a vicious attack by two 'menacing' dogs just metres from his home.

Chris Watson is minus a chunk of his shin and recovering from multiple bites, but the Palmerston pensioner knows the unprovoked attack could have been much worse.

"I think I'm lucky to be here, to be honest."

The 68-year-old moved from Christchurch to the quiet East Otago township 18-months ago for his retirement.

While out on one of his regular neighbourhood walks on Tuesday afternoon, a dog he described as "menacing" rushed at him near his Tiverton St home.

"This dog come out and looked a bit threatening ... he growled at me and I shooed it away."

It was soon joined by another dog and "I thought 'Oh, this is not good"'.

"Then it was all on," Watson said. "They were going for me, they just came out of nowhere. I thought that might be it."

The dogs attacked him over a frenzied five minutes, while Watson tried to fight and then flee. One took a great chunk out of my shin . . . as I tried to get away I fell over and one bit me on the arm.

"There was just blood everywhere."

Watson said it took him some time to process what had happened before he sought help. I was in shock, I think I still am. I stood there thinking 's..., what do I do now'."

A neighbour helped him with his injuries and rang for an ambulance about 1.35pm.

Watson was flown to Dunedin Hospital with serious bites to his legs and an arm, and was discharged a day later.

The dogs - a pit bull and a Staffordshire-cross - were both classed as menacing and were required to be on a lead and muzzled. They were put down following the attack.

Watson, a former dog owner, said the dogs' owner visited him on Thursday morning and apologized.
"She's pretty upset, they were her pets."

While those dogs were no longer a threat, Watson said he would "be very wary of dogs from now on".

His injuries had reduced his mobility and he was taking "lots of antibiotics . . . dogs' mouths aren't very clean. It is quite painful . . . I can't walk around very much. I like being able to walk around, that's what I like about Palmerston."

Another Tiverton St resident, who did not want to be named, said he was becoming increasingly concerned about the number of "scary dogs" roaming the streets in Palmerston.

"Sometimes I think I need to take a bit of two-by-four with me when I go for a walk," he said.

The Waitaki District Council asked anyone who witnessed the attack to contact them.

(Stuff - Oct 15, 2015)