The short walk to her daughter’s home is now a fearful one for Ann Smith after she was brutally attacked by a dog two years ago.
The pensioner, who worked as a groundskeeper in Victoria Park for 19 years, used to love spending time out in the open.
But a savage dog attack, which almost cost her the use of her arm, has left the 67-year-old scared to go outdoors.
“If I see a big dog I have to turn back or cross the road,” she says. “I get frightened.”
When a pitbull attacked Kaz, her shitsu, two years ago, Ann grabbed her pet to protect it, but not before the other dog’s teeth had torn into her arm. Then she went down.
Five stitches were needed in the wound, and as a result of the fall, Anne also chipped the bone in her elbow, narrowly missing a nerve. She was told that she was lucky to retain the use of her arm, but continues to suffer from the injuries.
In recent years, London’s ‘devil dogs’ have got out of control, experts say. A new police unit seized 1,000 dangerous status dogs in 2009, its first year of operations.
But according to Stoke-Newington-based dog trainer Louise Glazebrook, Hackney, one of the areas most affected by aggressive dogs, has received little attention.
Mare Street resident Angela Young says that she deliberately takes her dog Milligan for walks in working hours.
“If an old dog like Milligan gets in a fight with a pitbull he’ll get ripped to pieces.”
The residents of Butterfield Green, where an off-lead dog recently killed a neighbour’s cat, are campaigning to make leads compulsory.
The council has now announced plans to tackle the borough’s dangerous dogs, with a new unit devoted to taking the most fierce off the street.
And legislation proposed by central government on Tuesday could force all dog owners to get their pets microchipped and take out third-party insurance to cover injuries if their dog attacks someone.
Ferocious breeds of pitbull and mastiff-types dogs are popular with gang members in the borough, who use them as status symbols on the fringes of criminal activity.
Some residents have reported the use of dogs as weapons, replacing knives in the struggle between rival gangs.
Others have described the use of status dogs to keep police at bay when gang members need to buy time.
Reports of dogs being bred and used in illegal fights on Dalston and Queensbridge estates are widespread. For the animals, the consequences can be grave.
Dog fights are either “on” or “off-lead”, says vet Brian Barnett, who has treated dogs brought in after fights. If they are leashed, they can be pulled apart before they are fatally wounded.
“If they are untethered, the death of one or both dogs is likely,” says Barnett.
It is difficult for animal workers to keep track of dogs who are getting medical attention regularly after fights if they are not chipped.
Often the animals are all too easily replaceable. Philip Glanville, councillor for Hoxton says, “Often a dog is seized and the owner just gets another one.”
Unfortunately those who use vicious dogs to intimidate neighbours and other gangs are least likely to comply with the new regulations.
Omar, one of three men seen training two pitbulls on the London Fields, tells The Hackney Post, “No-one’s gonna come up to me and my mates and tell me my dog’s gotta have a fucking microchip.”
His dogs were clawing at tree trunks and hanging onto trees with their teeth, which increases the strength of their jaws. But Omar says: “I won’t be getting him insured. People look at him and think that he’s violent. And he’s not.”
omar from HACKNEY, your the type of person that makes me sick, you stand behind your dog to make youselve look big i have idiots like u where i live,its you and other owners like you that shouldnt own a dog i wished u could go through the pain the dogs does when they r put in dogfights that is y you got them isnt it you need puting down not the dog.
oww so cute dog: )
Dog attacked me on bus but police didn’t even look at CCTV
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23…
had a fight the other day with guys getting their dogs to hang off the tyres in the children's playground on stoke newington common, all the kids running away screaming …
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