Dog attack Boy, 4 bitten in eye amid rise in incidents
AFOUR-YEAR-OLD boy from Bristol had his eyelid glued back together after he was attacked by a dog in Eastville Park.
The horrific incident happened earlier this year when dog lover Charlie, four, was enjoying a day out at the park with his dad.
It comes as Avon and Somerset Police say they’ve received 75 reports of dog-on-person attacks so far this year in Bristol.
Charlie’s mum Sarah, chair of the Friends of Eastville Park Facebook group, recalled the moment her son was bitten by a “really big dog” and needed hospital treatment.
“He was with his dad in the back part of the park,” she said.
“He loves dogs and when he saw one he asked if he could stroke it.
“My husband was chatting to the owners. It was a big dog, about 25 kilos, and they said it was friendly.
“While they were chatting suddenly the dog bit [Charlie’s] eye. The owner pulled the dog back. If they didn’t it would have been much worse.
“He had a half-inch-long cut on his eyelid. It really frightened him and there were lots of tears.
“His dad brought him home and we called the hospital. We took him down to the BRI and he had his eyelid glued.
“They said it was the second dog attack they had that day on a child.”
Sarah says she’s seen an increase in dog attacks in the area recently, which she put down to the pandemic puppy boom.
An article published in The Guardian in April made the same correlation, saying pandemic puppies lack the training to walk safely in a postlockdown world.
Dr Jenna Kiddie, head of canine behaviour at the Dogs Trust, said: “Puppies haven’t been getting the same mental stimulation they would have done.
“They haven’t been exposed to visitors to the home in the same way or been around other dogs. So we’re very worried about how they’re going to respond. Because they will probably respond with fear, and one way a dog can cope with fear is to use aggression.”
Avon and Somerset Police told the Post they’ve had 75 reports of “an owner allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control injuring any person or assistance dog” so far this year in Bristol.
Meanwhile, Bristol City Council has received 86 reports of dog-on-dog attacks in the city since January.
Sarah says the attack made her son “very nervous of dogs for a long time” and particularly dogs that are a “bit jumpy.”
“We only stroke dogs when we know who the owner is,” she says. “That’s really helping him overcome his fear. But he is definitely more wary of dogs.”
Sarah, who volunteers for the park, says she’s seen a lot of people being knocked over by dogs recently.
“People have been more fearful,” she says. “Since lockdown more people are aware of local parks and we’ve seen a huge increase in park users.
“Dog owners being more aware is a good precaution to take.”