A WOMAN from Lincolnshire is urging people to ensure their dogs are under control after her Jack Russell was attacked in Bude recently.

Caroline Baxter, from Lincolnshire, was on holiday in the Bude area with her mother and two Jack Russells, Ernie and Polly, this summer, and have said they left Cornwall feeling ‘emotionally scarred’ following an encounter with another dog.

Caroline, her mother and two dogs, including three-year-old Ernie, parked up in Bude on Thursday, August 22 and took the coastal path to Crooklets beach.

Scrambling down the cliff, they made their way to an enclosed area of the beach, where they set up a picnic and decided to spend the day there. Their dogs were on leads throughout their time on the beach.

Caroline said: “It was very quiet, but we could see people walking by and what seemed like a local came down with her dog and greeted us and carried on wandering up the beach.

“What happened next has emotionally scarred my mother and I and our poor dog Ernie, who is a Jack Russell boy, aged three.”

Caroline and her mother spotted a larger dog looking over at them, which appeared to be behaving aggressively. “This startled us and I picked my dog Polly up, who is also a Jack Russell, and my mum tried to get herself to her feet with Ernie but couldn’t in time.

“The dog jumped on Ernie and started attacking him. We were screaming and I managed to quickly pull the dog off Ernie as he had a harness so I could get hold of him. The owner ran down, repeatedly saying sorry and that she didn’t see we were on the beach. I shouted to her to get her dog away from ours. Her dog was not on a lead.”

Ernie suffered a punctured leg — but Caroline says it is not the vet bills she is concerned about, it is the ‘emotional impact’ the incident will have on her two dogs.

“If I hadn’t have been able to help and pull this dog off him the vet said he would either have lost his leg or even worse, the dog would not have stopped until death.

“We have never experienced anything like this and we are desperately worried that this may happen to another dog. Unfortunately due to the fact we were so scared and wanting this woman to get her dog away from us so we could check Ernie over, we have no details. Ernie is in severe pain and is swollen in many places and cries in pain.”

Now Caroline and her mother are back home in Lincolnshire, Ernie is recovering. The wound is not infected and is healing nicely, although he is thought to have suffered a torn muscle. Caroline ‘desperately’ wants to get the word out as she would never want this to happen to anybody else’s dog.

“I reported the incident to the council and they were lovely and are keeping an eye on the area with the details I have given,” Caroline continued. “Unfortunately not much else can be done but my main focus is to make people aware that these incidents happen and to stop it from happening.”

Caroline admitted that her trust in other dogs is now at an all time low: “The effect it has had on me is massive. I won’t trust any other dog that comes near mine for a long time. I will never be able to get the screams and the look of fear in my mother and dogs’ eyes out of my head. It was terrifying and I honestly believed in that moment Ernie was going to be killed. If I hadn’t have been able to get to my feet quickly and pull this dog off by its harness, the outcome could’ve been so different, and the thought of that alone has reduced me to tears on numerous occasions.

“Ernie has always been wary of other dogs and is even more so now. He is a good boy but he’s never been allowed off the lead as he tends to be rather nosy and has selective hearing and may decide not to come back if there is something far more interesting! This has knocked his confidence in general, though. His character has changed and he isn’t as confident. He only tends to be the Ernie we know when Polly, my Jack Russell, who was also there, is around him. She is his comfort blanket as they grew up together so are more like brother and sister.

“The pain that he was in was unbearable. He struggled to go to the toilet and cried during the night when his muscles stiffened, which broke our hearts. He would cry if you touched around his stomach or leg area and it was so hard to know how to help him. He’s learnt to now not put weight on that leg, which will be interesting to see whether he will want to as he recovers.”

Caroline now wants to encourage dog owners to make sure their dogs are under control around both people and other animals in public places, to prevent similar events from occurring in future. She said: “These incidents should never happen and it would have have happened if the dog was kept on a lead. The dog was clearly aggressive and we are so lucky to still have Ernie with us. Just because you trust your dog, it doesn’t mean that these things won’t happen, and the fact the owner apologised as they weren’t aware anybody else was on the beach is a clear indication to me that the dog needed to be restrained.

“I will never forget the incident and every day since I have spoken to people and tried to get the word out to hopefully encourage people if they don’t trust their dog 100% to not risk it as the emotional and physical damage is not worth it. If affects not only the poor dogs but also us too, and we are now scared of anything like this happening again.”

Cornwall Council has advised that people concerned about dogs behaving aggressively should take the matter up with the police. On their website, it states that ‘as a responsible dog owner’ people need to be aware that the law requires them to do certain things. These include not letting a dog bite or attack any person or other animal.

The council advises to report any incident or situation involving welfare, nuisance or danger caused by animals, or to obtain further information and advice, to the public protection service by emailing [email protected] or calling 0300 1234 212.