Hi All,

I am absolutely devastated after the events of this week. My wife and I own a 2 and a half year old PUG named Elvis. He is our everything and just like a child to us. Our whole extended family love him and he is a gem with our small neices. He really is the perfect dog.

We live in a flat and have a shared communal garden. On Wednesday evening my wife went outside to take the rubbish out and took Elvis with her. A few minutes later I heard hysterical, frantic screaming and ran outside to find Katie is tears, with blood down her top and Elvis cowering in her arms and crying with pain. He had been attacked by a neigbours 2 Staffordshire Bull Terriers who had let them outside while Katie was in the garden despite a prior agreement.

We examined him and found he had a very serious and severe eye injury. He had actually been bitten in the eyeball. We rushed him to our local vets and were immediately referred to a specialist. Thankfully this was relatively local and Elvis was there within an hour of the original attack. The news was bad and the damage to his eye so severe he had to have his left eye removed. Katie was also bitten in the attack and we were at hospital for 6 hours. We got Elvis back on yesterday and when we first saw him with only one eye we both burst into tears. The whole incident has left us incredibley upset, distressed and shocked.

The history to the incident is that we have always kept Elvis away from these dogs as we believed them to be aggressive. We previously got on well with the owner but have never spoken with her partner. We have always disagreed with her keeping the dogs couped up in a small flat due to their size and the fact the dogs are never walked. In May I was out in the garden with Elvis when the fella let the dogs outside and they went straight for Elvis. Luckily I was able to rescue him before they injured him however one jumped up and bit me on the elbow. This was treated at hospital. We agreed with the neighbour we would always check to see the other wasn't using the garden before letting our dogs out. This seemed suitable so the first incident was not reported.

I am desperately seeking advice from anybody who has had a similar experience and how it was dealt with both criminally and civilly. We have reported the matter to police, who are investigating. They in turn informed the local council as her flat is a council flat. Due to this incident and previous problems with the same 2 dogs they said she must remove the dogs immediately or she would be evicted. The dogs have now gone, but we don't know where.

Our vets bills have reached £1900. Which in itself is not an issue as we can not put a price on what our little man means to us. We do have insurance but I have concerns it will not cover the full amount. If this is the case I would like to seek compensation for the difference at least. But my main concern is getting justice for Katie, Elvis and ensuring that these dogs can not put anyone else through what we've been through. I am certain they could easily attack another dog or even worse a child.

Thanks, Jon

Im confused, what exactly do you want advice on? How to take legal action?

__________________

Knacker Lacquer - Adds Luster To Your Cluster

Im so sorry to hear about your dog i hope he is coping well with one eye

My dog was also attacked by a sbt which was not under control
But lucky is was not hurt that bad

__________________

Life without dogs i dont think so

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I have never had an experiance like this so I am no help, but I wish you, Katie, and the brave little Elvis all the best.

I suppose the dogs may be confiscated and possibly destroyed under the dangerousdogs act - a shame, but they sound like they were leading a miserable life anyway.

You insurance papers should tell you how much they will pay out, and if you are willing to go to court etc. you can probably claim some compensation.

I'd suggest getting some legal advice from a proffesional - will more than likely cost you but if thats what you want to do.

I wish all the luck, and give Elvis a kiss and cuddle from all of us at Pet Forums.

Oh dear poor little Elvis and poor you an awful experience hope he gets over it quickly x

Oh, poor Elvis! I hope he recovers soon. I think the best you can hope for is to find out if the dogs have been legally seized (in which case PTS probably) or if the owners just moved them elsewhere.
I can understand your concern and not to sound cruel but I hope they have been PTS.If they have already bitten 2 people then they are too much of a risk to be allowed out..

So sorry to hear this.
Does your insurance company offer legal advice? Might be worth checking out.
If not, try ringing the Citizens Advice Bureau, or maybe even the police dealing with the incident might be able to advise you.
I hope Elvis is ok and not too traumatised by this awful even, and hope your wife is ok too - it must have been really distressing for all of you.
xx

HI

My dog has also been attacked by a staffie cross, thankfully no major physical damage done, but she is a lot more cautious/nervy with some dogs now, it has changed her.

I know how devastated I was when that happened, so how you and your wife must feel, I cant imagine.

I hope your dog has a good recovery.

From what I gathered, a dog on dog attack is not an offence, but obviously the biting of humans is a different matter.

I wish you all well.

I am so sorry for your ordeal, make sure you keep elvis, and your wife as she has had the shock of her life, on rescue remedy for several weeks.
When elvis is recovered, and don't worry they adapt a lot easier then we do, you must address the psychological damage. Elvis needs to be re socialized with dogs and especially so with staffies as he might get very fearful of them; a fearful dog is a target for another dog, not just staffies. Fearful dogs are unpredictable and give out wrong messages and get attacked to prevent an attack. Fact! My dog was attacked and for weeks after he kept being attacked on a regular basis by all sorts of dogs, even the ones he was friend with.

My dog is a staffy cross by the way, he has fear issues which we work on, he has been attacked today by a boxer, 3 times by labs, and nipped countless time by small dogs. If he can avoid confrontation he will, but if cornered like today, he was under a table on leash he will retaliate.

Most insurances will have third party cover, that would pay for the whole of your vet fees.
By the sound of the way these two dogs were kept the owners probably never bothered with insurance and if they fit the picture in my mind they probbaly are on some sort of benefit and get freeish vet from the rspca, blue cross, etc. One of the reasons so many idiots own and damage dogs, which ultimately pay the price for their owners' neglect.

If you find yourself in a similar situaton in the future, rather then avoid the dogs you can try to have them all walking on leash together side to side (without the dogs being next to eachother), that might relieve a lot of the stress dogs feel when they meet eachother.

Try not to fear every staffy you find in the future as dogs feel energy and I know it's hard, but I see how everyg=body jumped to the opportunity to curse the breed and ultimately it doesnt do any good to dogs living among dogs. I take ray to socialization classes and out of the 20 dogs there mostly were muzzled except the staffies, amazing uh!

Watch the handler more then the dog, and often even though if you are fearful try not to show it.

I wish you all to make a full recovery, I was shaken up for months after ray got bitten and he suffered the price for it. They recover a lot faster then we do.

I agree with the above poster - my dog is a stffy cross too, and she is the biggest sweetheart you'd ever meet. They're not all bad, and don't become fearful. Good luck