By Brendan Rees
A Lynbrook woman thought her beloved Jack Russell Terrier was going to die when they were savagely attacked by a dog.
Lauren Dalli was walking her 10-year-old Daisy near Lynbrook Shopping Centre carpark when an off-lead dog jumped out of a window from a parked car, believed to be a dark Suzuki Swift, and charged towards them about noon on Thursday 30 July.
Ms Dalli, 29, said she remembered seeing a woman using her mobile phone in the Suzuki hatchback moments before the dog, believed to a dark-haired German Shepherd, lunged at Daisy and began to maul her.
“It just happened so quickly. I thought my dog was being murdered so instinctively tried to grab my dog.”
Ms Dalli said as she tried to save Daisy she fell to the ground and the dog turned on her.
“I was in shock… my arm started to go numb and tingly and I was quite dizzy, I can’t imagine the pain my dog was going through.”
Luckily bystanders quickly came to her aid but told her the woman in the car had grabbed the dog before driving off “without one word and did not check on us at all”.
“Thankfully my mum was able to come down and took my dog to the vet for immediate attention while I was assisted to the local doctors for wound assistance and a tetanus shot.”
Ms Dalli said she had to borrow more than $1500 from her parents to spend on surgery for Daisy who had open wounds to her neck that required surgical drainage tubes to be inserted and secured with stitches.
She said Daisy was able to be discharged later that evening and was recovering at home.
“She’s just sleeping, resting and eating well. She’s very sore, in pain.”
Ms Dalli said she had personally sustained bite marks around her arm as well as a small but “deep hole” near her wrist that luckily didn’t require stitches.
She wanted to warn others in the area to be alert and hoped the dog’s owner would be held accountable.
“I’m very upset that the lady did not have the decency to see if my dog was OK and help us,” she said.
Casey Council safer communities manager Caroline Bell said the council was investigating the alleged dog attack.
“It has been reported that a German Shepherd allegedly escaped from a Black Suzuki Hatchback and attacked a Jack Russell Terrier and its owner, causing injuries to both,” she said.
“We are keen to speak to the owner of the German Shepherd who was present at the scene and left in the black Suzuki. If you have any information about this incident, please call us 9705 5200.”
