A COUNCILLOR whose one-year-old puppy was killed by another dog in a ‘vicious’ random attack has urged owners of potentially aggressive dogs to keep them under control.
Peter Fielding’s wife Linda was also injured in the attack which occurred on Pogmoor Recreation Ground - a popular area for local dog walkers since the closure of nearby Penny Pie Park - last Thursday morning.
Linda had been walking toy poodle Freddie when a large black labrador mongrel ran ‘the length of a football pitch’ and began to attack the pup, who Peter said was timid around other dogs having just started to socialise.
When Linda got in the way, the dog bit her hands and left them bleeding.
She later had to be taken to hospital for her wounds, but Peter said the psychological effects of the incident - which saw her clothes stained red with Freddie’s blood - would take even longer to heal.
“Physically, they’re what you might call superficial wounds - but it will be a long time before the terror of it goes away,” he told the Chronicle.
“Linda finished up on the floor, with the dog on top of her, hanging onto Freddie.
“Freddie wouldn’t have even fought back.
“He wasn’t keen on other dogs.
“He was just becoming an adult dog, the dog we wanted.”
A local woman had seen the attack and helped Linda to a vet, also giving her a change of clothes.
Peter, who had been elsewhere, rushed back before the pair were told that Freddie had died of his injuries.
The dog that killed Freddie was, Peter has been told, a rescue dog the owners had only had for around eight weeks before the attack.
After coming to terms with losing Freddie, who the couple had had since he was a puppy, the Dodworth councillor said he would be looking into the possibility of certain areas becoming designated spaces where dogs are required to be on leads.
These have been implemented by neighbouring local authorities under public space protection orders (PSPOs), which give councils and police additional powers to curb anti-social behaviour.
Such an order covers Barnsley town centre, but only stretches as far as Town End Roundabout and doesn’t account for offences involving dogs.
PSPOs can require dogs to be kept on leads, or exclude them from certain areas, at certain times of day.
They’re designed to address specific issues - and given the number of people not only offering their sympathy to Peter and Linda, but also sharing similar stories, an option that could see the chance of further attacks reduced.
Peter said: “We believe it was picked up on the streets with no chip, no history, and we don’t know how much of an assessment had been made that the dog could be taken to a public space and allowed to run off-lead.
“This is the result.
“We are concerned about the fact that there’s no guarantee this dog won’t be adopted by somebody else.
“The police indicated to us that it would require the kennels to tell any new owners about what the dog’s been involved in - but that will in all likellihood make the dog unadoptable.
“So far, we feel there’s nothing realistically been done to stop this from happening again with any certainty.
“There’s nothing to stop the owners from getting another dog if they’re minded to do so.
“It’s an issue - a lot of people have voiced the opinion that dogs should be on leads in certain places, and I clearly have to agree.”
