Dog ‘shaken like a toy’

Tracey Rees had set out with her two maltese shih tzus Scrappy and Beau about 9am on September 26.

The trio had just passed the lake on Wentworth Parade when a large brindle-coloured dog attacked.

‘He was just going in for the kill,’ Ms Rees said.

‘I managed to pick Beau up but the dog just kept going for Scrappy.’

‘At first I was thinking, ‘What if the dog gets me?’. Then it was ‘What if one of my dogs get killed?’, so I just went in kicking and luckily it did not turn on me.’

Melville mum Sonia Jukes was returning from dropping her kids off at school when she spotted what she believes was a bull mastiff charging toward the dogs.

‘It just bolted,’ she said.

‘It ran out from a side street and made a beeline for Tracey’s dogs.

‘I stopped and ran across to help her.

‘Tracey was trying to push the dog away but it just kept getting Scrappy around the neck.’

After a five-minute struggle, which started on the path and ended in the middle of the road, the pair managed to free Scrappy and lock the two scared dogs in Sonia’s car.

By then about 10 cars had stopped, with one man managing to get control of the attacking dog.

It was taken to the pound, while a second dog which had followed but not attacked was also taken away.

While Beau was fortunate to escape injury-free, his companion suffered multiple puncture wounds.

‘I walk the area with the dogs every day. Never in my life did I think I’d be in a dog attack situation. I’m more worried about being swooped by magpies,’ Ms Rees said.

‘You see things like this on television and it’s awful but actually being in that situation was just surreal.

‘The way he grabbed Scrappy and was shaking him like he was a toy was crazy.’

Ms Rees said she could not thank Ms Jukes enough for putting her own safety on the line to help a complete stranger.

‘She deserves a bravery medal because the dog could have been very nasty to us,’ she said.

‘She was a dog lover and she got out to help.’

Ms Rees said she spoke to the dogs’ owner, who said it had been having sessions with a behavioural therapist.

What Cockburn services manager Rob Avard said:‘The owner of the two dogs that escaped was advised by a neighbour that his dogs had escaped and contacted the pound and paid the $80 infringement.‘Later in the morning the lady reported the dog attack to rangers, who later interviewed the owner of the attacking dog and advised that infringements for a further $400 would be imposed. The owner has been helpful and is upset that this has occurred.‘The dogs are registered with the City.’