Chris Parker said his wife, Angela, their two young children on their bicycles and newborn in a pram were out walking with their Chihuahua-cross, ‘Buddy’, when they passed the yard of a large Mastiff x Wolfhound. Buddy was not on a lead at the time.

Mr Parker said the Mastiff-cross jumped the fence to his yard and mauled Buddy in front of the children. Buddy sustained a punctured lung, several large body punctures and lacerations. Considering veterinary advice, the family decided to euthanize Buddy later that day. He said their family received a compassionate apology from the owners who did everything within their power including taking Buddy to Inverell Vet Clinic and paying the fees.

Phil Sutton, Inverell Shire Council environmental compliance co-ordinator, said the owner of the Mastiff-cross usually has the dog contained in a kennel at the back of the property, but had let the dog out for a run in the yard.

He said the dog had not been on registries as a dangerous, controlled or menacing animal and the owner had followed all rules outlined under the Companion Animals Regulations of 1999. The dog was registered with council, microchipped and in the proper place on the owner’s property until it jumped the fence.

“Basically it was just a tragic accident,” Mr Sutton said. The owner of the Mastiff-cross expressed the desire to put his dog down following the incident. Mr Sutton said in order to ensure the dog was euthanized in a humane and correct manner, it had to be surrendered to the council, and the owner had complied.

Mr Parker stressed that he wasn’t biased against specific breeds and has many close family friends with large dogs, some even used for hunting, that are well-trained and disciplined, but care must be exercised with animals trained for hunting.

“It’s just a case of correct management of the dogs. As I said to the owner on the phone, ‘What about if the dogs decided to attack one of the kids on their bike?'” 

He felt it was unlikely his children would recover confidence in large breed dogs after the incident.

“These kids love dogs, but now they will be petrified of large dogs. The owners may try and repay/repair the damage, but this will take our kids a very long time to heal from.”