The owners of the two Havanese dogs who were brutally attacked by a crazed Alsatian in a family park fear that a child could be attacked next if police don’t do something to stop it.
Jenna Hallahan, 45, and her friend Dolly Thomson, 71, had agreed to walk their dogs Luna, 4, and Geoffrey, 7, in Roe Green Park in Kingsbury, northwest London, on Sunday.
However, their dogs ended up needing surgery and medication after being attacked by a large brown Alsatian which was left to run around without a lead.
Mrs Hallahan said Luna, her white Havanese, has been left ‘traumatised’ from the incident and had to have surgery, costing upwards of £2,000, for injuries which left her ‘intestines sticking out’.
The pooch, who she described as ‘the loveliest and happiest dog’, also sustained a puncture wound to her ear and the side of her torso and ‘terrible bruising’.
Mrs Hallahan told MailOnline: ‘She’s hopefully healing, but she’s come home and she’s just a shell of herself. You know, she’s not very excited to see us. She won’t move, she won’t eat, she won’t drink. She’s traumatised.’
Geoffrey, the seven-year-old black Havanese belonging to Mrs Thomson, suffered injuries to his rear right leg from being ‘thrown to and fro like a rag doll’ and a puncture wound on his back.
After the attack, retired nurse Mrs Thomson said Geoffrey was ‘profusely shaking and very distressed’ and was covered in the Alsatians saliva.
She added it ‘felt like the whole world was ending’ when she got the pooch home and noticed he was struggling to walk.
Geoffrey is now taking antibiotics and painkillers after vets cleaned his wounds and has ‘started to pick up a bit’ since the ordeal.
The two friends are members of their local dog walking group chat, jokingly named Roe Park Ruffians, and had planned to walk Luna and Geoffrey together in the park on Sunday.
There was a Romanian Easter festival happening at the time with barbecues and music, so they decided to walk around it.
It was then when they saw the Alsatians seen in the viral video of the attack and their owner.
They knew of the man and had spoken to him briefly in the past, describing him as someone who used his dogs as a ‘status symbol’.
Both women claim the larger darker Alsatian had previously attacked two other dogs in the same park so they thought best if they stayed ‘far away’.
The two younger Alsatians were on leads but the older one was roaming free without a lead or collar despite park rules prohibiting this.
The women headed in the opposite direction with Luna and Geoffrey, who were on leads, and avoided eye contact with the man and his dogs but unfortunately it was too late.
‘I looked up, and suddenly the brown dog was just running full speed towards me, and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t do anything. Before I knew it, the dog had my dog in his mouth,’ Mrs Hallahan explained.
The friends were ‘scared’ and began hitting the Alsatian and trying to pull it off of Luna.
Mrs Hallahan described her friend as ‘brave’ for whacking the crazed mutt as her own dog stood next to her.
The women’s frenzied screams prompted some courageous men from the festival and a friend of the Alsatian’s owner to come running over to help by pulling at it and throwing water in its face
One man who she dubbed a ‘hero’ managed to stop the attack by repeatedly inserting his finger into the Alsatian’s anus – an emergency technique used to make an aggressive dog drop whatever is in its mouth.
The Alsatians owner’s friend got the dog in a headlock and Mrs Thomson took pictures before walking away with Mrs Hallahan and Geoffrey to tend to Luna under the impression the whole ordeal was over and they were safe.
But the deranged hound had managed to break free from the man’s grip and made a beeline for them yet again.
‘All of a sudden this dog is on us, and he had Geoffrey, he grabbed him by his right hip’ she said.
She screamed out to get attention and the men from the festival came to the rescue again, halting the second attack by pulling the Alsatian’s jaw open to release Geoffrey.
It was then that the friend of the Alsatian owner was seen being dragged along the floor by the two younger Alsatians who wanted in on the action.
‘It just shows they cannot control these dogs,’ Mrs Thomson said.
The police were called but after waiting for 15 minutes, Mrs Hallahan decided she needed to get Luna home and left. She later took her to the vets.
Mrs Thomson said the owners of another dog alleged to have been attacked previously by the same Alsatian arrived at the park and were very upset to find out it had happened again.
She took Geoffrey home to tend to him when she was told the police wouldn’t arrive for another hour. She gave him and bath and took him to the vets the next day.
Following the attacks, both women claim the Alsatian’s owner came to their homes to apologise but also told them it ‘wasn’t my fault’ and refused to give his address or phone number.
The friends said the police told them to call 999 if they see the man and his dogs in the park again.
However, they are both frightened to go back and worry that even if they did see him and call 999, the police wouldn’t get there in time to catch him.
‘I don’t know why police haven’t knocked on his door and taken the dogs away from him,’ Mrs Callahan said.
She added: ‘If they don’t do something about him and those dogs, a child will be killed.’
Ms Thomson echoed the same fear, saying: ‘It could have easily been a child. My worry about all this is that it’s becoming a bit of a national problem as there are more and more dog attacks happening.’
The leader of their dog walking group has since set up a GoFundMe to help Mrs Hallahan pay her £2,000 vet bill. Any extra donations will go towards installing a safe fenced area in the park where dog walkers can take their pets or to a dog charity. Click here to donate.
A Met Police spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Police were called at 16:43hrs on Monday, 13 April to reports of a dangerous dog in Kingsbury, north-west London.
‘Officers attended the scene at Roe Green Park where a dog, believed to be an Alsatian, was allegedly attacking other dogs, after coming off its lead.
‘One dog is receiving treatment for major injuries. Enquiries continue. No arrests have as yet been made.’
‘If you were a witness or have any information which may help, please call police on 101 with the reference 4829/13Apr.’
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