The owners of a four-year-old West Highland terrier who was mauled by a dog in Royston on Friday evening have said they have been traumatised by the unprovoked attack.
Rebecca Driver had been out with Bentley for a two-hour walk on Therfield Heath, and was in Sun Hill when two Staffordshire bull terriers set upon the dog.
Her mum Sarah told the Crow: “The owner of the two Staffs let his granddaughter hold the lead, but the girl couldn’t control them and they went to attack our dog.
“Bentley was exhausted from the walk and it was just awful. Rebecca heard him scream, the noise was like nothing we had ever heard before.”
Sarah – an estate agent at Marshalls in Royston – said the owner managed to restrain one dog, but the second bit Bentley, with his jaw locking and the dog refusing to let go.
She said: “A woman came running out who worked at the Woolpack Veterinary Surgery in Buntingford. She knew what to do – there’s a pressure point at back of the neck to release the Staff’s jaw.
“If it hadn’t been for her, the dog would have killed Bentley.”
The vet bills came to around £100, and they have requested the Staffordshire bull terrier owner pays them – but he’s under no legal obligation to.
Richard Cox House carer Rebecca posted about the incident on the Royston Reporting Facebook page, receiving responses from nearly 200 people.
Sarah said: “We are overwhelmed by the support. We just want to raise awareness of dog attacks because we have had Bentley since he was a puppy and have never known anything like it.
“We don’t know if he will ever recover psychologically.”
Rebecca, 23, added that as well as Bentley, they have Humbug the cat and the animals really are a part of the family.
She said: “I’m so upset that Bentley has had to go through this, I couldn’t get the Staff to let go of him and I felt totally helpless.
“He is slowly starting to recover, but has become very nervous. We’ve taken him for a short walk and when he saw another dog he cowered behind us shaking.
“It will be a long time before I have the confidence to walk him alone again because I’d be too nervous.
“Me and mum would like to say a huge thank you to the members of the public that came to help me and the Woolpack vets, because it could have been so much worse.”
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