Dog mauled to death in front of boy
Owner tells of horror attack on walk
ADOG owner has spoken of his horror after his beloved pet was mauled to death in front of his ten-year-old grandson.
Jim Proctor (left) had been walking eight-year-old Buddy (picturedright) with the youngster in Accrington town centre when the Bichon Frise was ‘set upon by two large and powerful dogs’.
Jim, 71, said Buddy ‘didn’t stand a chance’ during the ferocious attack and later died. The attack left his grandson screaming in horror. Jim has called on dog owners to make sure their dogs are on leads.
He said: “You don’t think it will ever happen to you or your dog.”
ADEVASTATED dog owner has spoken of the harrowing moment his beloved pet was mauled to death in front of his 10-year-old grandson.
Jim Procter was walking his eight-year-old Bichonfrise in Accrington town centre when ‘Buddy’ was set upon by two ‘large and powerful dogs’.
The 71-year-old said Buddy ‘didn’t stand a chance’ during the ferocious attack, which happened right in front of his distressed grandson at around 7.30am on Sunday morning.
Jim, who lives on Dale Street in Accrington, said the boy was ‘ screaming and had never seen anything like it before’.
He told the Observer: “We were just walking along the ‘Black Path’ and we saw a dog down at the other end. I was keeping Buddy to one side and then all of a sudden I had two dogs attacking him. They were so fast and we couldn’t get them off.
“The owner came up and we kept shouting ‘get them off, get them off’, but he didn’t seem to under- stand what was going on.
“Buddy was squealing. Eventually [the owner] got one of them on a lead and said to his dog ‘you are going to be put down you are’.
“I’m shocked by what happened. You don’t think it will ever happen to you or your dog. You never realise how helpless you are. I think if we had realised how fast they were approaching we maybe could have done something else but they were just on us.
“All the time we were trying to keep Buddy safe and it happened so fast. They were big and powerful dogs.”
Retired elderly homes manager Jim said his grandson had joined him for the walk after travelling up from Wolverhampton for the weekend with his father Andrew Proctor.
He said: “Buddy was a character all of his own. He was a lovely, friendly dog full of mischief but he liked the grandchildren and was all over them when they came to visit us. My grandson was unsettled afterwards. He’s travelled back home now and his parents are going to keep an eye on him because they think he might have some kind of reaction to what he saw.”
Jim has called on all local dog owners to make sure their dogs are on leads so the incident never happens again.
He said: “It doesn’t take 30 seconds to put a dog on a lead. That’s the responsibility we all have as dog owners to make sure our dogs can be restrained.
“Buddy was only a Bichonfrise so he didn’t stand a chance.”