A sausage dog owner has been left traumatised after claiming one of her beloved pets had to be put down following an attack by a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
Josie Smith was walking her three pooches Frank, Ralph, and Pancake, on the beach.
But she said suddenly a large black Staffy came pounding towards her and the three sausage dogs.
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The 32-year-old says the dog had a lead attached to it’s collar but its owner was trailing behind.
Josie claims she grabbed the lead and tried to hand it back to the dog’s owner.
She says that ten-year-old Frank had walked back over to Josie and the Staffy went for his neck.
Josie says she desperately tried to save Frank by kicking the dog in the ribs and when the owner managed to pry its mouth open, she rushed him to the vet.
Sadly, Frank couldn’t be saved and had to be put down.
“It was horrendous and so traumatising,” Josie, from Barry Island, south Wales, said.
“Nobody wants to lose their dog that way.”
She claimed: “The Staffy was running towards my dogs so I grabbed the lead and as I went to pass it to the owner, Frank had come over to me.
“It turned around and grabbed him by the throat. He’d got the jugular in his neck. There was blood everywhere.
“Frank was screaming in pain. I was hysterical and trying to kick the dog. The owner was trying to pull him off.
“I was in shock. People have told me they could hear my screams.
“He was playing in the sea and I took a video of him moments before disaster struck. It’s so sad.”
The NHS worker buried Frank in her gran’s back garden which overlooks Barry Island Beach because it was his favourite place.
She said: “Ralph was trying to dig up the grave and crying. It was heartbreaking.
“Frank was such a lovely, placid and calm dog. He was part of the family.
“I don’t have children so they are my children. Everyone who knows me knows that my dogs come everywhere with me.”
Josie reported the incident to South Wales Police, as reported by Need to Know.
She’s sharing her story to encourage dog owners to keep their pets on a lead.
Josie added: “No one should have to worry that this will happen when they’re walking their dog.
“If you know that your dog has these tendencies, just keep them on the lead. Be responsible.
“I’m scared to take the dogs out. I’ll go somewhere else and at night when it’s quieter.
“The thought of this happening again is horrendous. It’s traumatic.”
A South Wales Police spokesperson said: “The incident happened sometime between 5.15pm and 5.40pm on Wednesday, March 5 and was reported to police yesterday afternoon.”
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