Vicious dog attack on couple at Strabane Canal

A LOCAL man has been injured whilst defending his wife and their pet during a vicious dog attack at Strabane Canal.

Taking place on New Year’s Day whilst other families and a number of children were enjoying a stroll along the local waterway, the incident has raised fresh concerns about the increasing prevalence of dog-owners allowing their charges to be off the leash.

On the afternoon in question, the local man and his wife – who both preferred not to be named – were taking their own dog for a walk when they were set-upon by an angry bull terrier-type breed.

“The owner, a man in his 50s, had been walking about 50 yards ahead of us with a child of about 14 and their dog – a bull terrier – was sniffing the ground,” the man who was attacked explained. “When it turned around and saw us, it made a bee-line for us. Right away, I lifted up our wee dog and my wife started squealing. It went for us. It was right at me, snapping and trying to get at me and the dog and I was actually kicking at it to get it off.”

It was only after the couple started being attacked that the dog’s owner turned and made his way back to the melee. “I couldn’t even say he ran back to us,” the local man explained. “He came back at a canter. He pulled the dog away and I told him, ‘That dog needs to be on a lead.’

He said, ‘I know, I know…’ and away he went,” the man continued.

“My wife is scared of dogs anyway and she was annoyed about what happened. But she definitely wouldn’t go down there on her own now.”

The local man admitted that such was the frightening nature of the experience, he didn’t realise that the dog had punctured his leg until he was on his way home.

“I didn’t know that the dog broke my skin until I was on my way home,” he said.

“I hadn’t realised until my wife asked me if I was OK and then I checked my leg and saw the blood,” he added.

“I was told I didn’t need a (tetanus) injection and I put anti-septic cream on it.”

He continued, “I don’t know the man who owned the dog but I would have challenged him if I’d known I’d been injured.

“The man had a harness on the dog but it had been running loose at the time. The best of it was, even after the dog went for us and even after he pulled the dog away, he still didn’t put a lead on it.”

Emphasising that permitting a dog off a lead in a public place is an offence, Strabane independent councillor, Raymond Barr suggested the end result of this attack could have been so much worse.

“It had the potential to be a much more serious incident and in a way, this man and his wife were lucky,” Cllr Barr said.

“This was a serious incident and highlights once again the need for dogs to be kept on leads.

“This particular walk was thronged with families over the festive period with a lot of children out on their bicycles. The consequences of a child being attacked doesn’t bear thinking about and only for the actions of this lady’s husband, God know what injuries she or their dog would have suffered.

“Dog fouling is ongoing but this incident takes an owner’s indiscipline of dogs to a higher, more dangerous level.”

He concluded, “The onus is on council to police this to a zero tolerance level and it’s something I will be urgently raising.”