A woman who watched as a large “vicious” dog picked up her terrier-cross with its teeth and shook it “like a rag doll” at a Wodonga worksite is calling for tighter restrictions on the animals.
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Sally Hocking was walking her small dog Rosie, who measures only 30 centimetres high, on a lead past the Swansea Close site about 4.30pm on Tuesday when the larger dog attacked.
She said it was tied to the back of a white ute parked on the nature strip in front of a Metricon Homes site.
The building company doesn’t allow dogs on its sites.
“It just shook her like a rag dog,” she said.
“I was screaming the house down. I thought she was going to die.”
Mrs Hocking, who was walking with her daughter, said she didn’t know the dog’s breed, but described it as tall with tight brown curly hair.
She said its owner came out the front, ripped Rosie from the dog’s clutches and threw her on the ground.
Mrs Hocking and her daughter then rushed three-year-old Rosie to the vet where she had surgery costing $759.
“She was yelping in pain,” Mrs Hocking said.
“She is traumatised. She doesn’t want to go outside any more.”
The next day, Mrs Hocking, who got Rosie as a rescue dog 1½ years ago, reported the mauling to Wodonga Council, hoping to prevent a repeat of the incident.
“If a child had of walked by, I think it would have attacked it too,” she said.
However, council rangers have been unable to locate the dog’s owner, described as in his 20s, tall, well-built with shoulder- length brown curly hair.
Mrs Hocking said she wanted an apology and called for known dangerous dogs to be muzzled and tied on shorter leads.
A council spokesman urged anyone with information to come forward with the attack still under investigation.
Both Metricon Homes and Cavalier Homes, which had builders next door, said dogs were not allowed on their sites.
Cavalier Homes supervisor Tynan Cundy said he’d questioned his tradesmen but they had denied owning the dog or witnessing the attack.
A Metricon Homes spokeswoman said any tradesmen who may have been on its site at the time were subcontractors.