‘This is what you should do in the event of a dog attack’ writes Grantham dog walker Sara Barnes of Who Lets Your Dog Out?

A rise in dog attacks is the focus of the latest column by Sara Barnes, of Grantham business Who Lets Your Dog Out? She writes:

There are reports every few days on the news and online about the rise in dog on dog and dog on human attacks, and as a dog walker I hear from customers and friends about incidents that they experience as well.

The law differentiates between dog on dog and dog on human attacks, but either way I am a strong believer that all incidents should be reported to the police as if people don’t report incidents then there are no records that can be used to establish a trend of behaviour of dogs and actions taken to prevent it happening in the future.

That said there are some things you need to do if it is a dog on dog attack:

1.Try not to panic – both your dog and the other dog will pick up on it and it can escalate the situation;

2.Don’t try to separate the dogs by yourself - by pulling your dog out of harm’s way you could result in you getting some nasty injuries, too. On top of that you could also injure your dog further if the other dog hasn’t let go;

3.Try to distract the other dog from a distance – a loud noise might work, and hopefully the other dogs owner is trying to do the same;

4.Call your dog away – getting them away could be enough to stop the attack;

5.Take your dog to the vets – bites can be worse than they look so getting them checked out by the vet is important in case the muscles and tissues under the skin are damaged and infected by bacteria;

6.Report it to the police on 101;

7.Check if the dogs owner has third party or pet insurance for their dog as this might be able to cover the vets bill for your dog’s injury treatment.

If you are attacked by a dog:

1.Speak to the owner as soon as possible, they need to be aware of what has happened;

2.Wash out any wound by running it under water for 10 minutes;

3.Go see a doctor;

4.Report the incident including photos to the police on 101.