A tiny puppy has walked his first steps after almost being ‘torn in half’ in a vicious attack in an Ellesmere Port park.
Little Ted almost lost his leg after two dogs charged out of nowhere and attacked him during the terrifying incident last week, which was described by his owner as like a ‘horror movie’.
The cavachon puppy needed emergency surgery after one of the dogs almost tore off his leg while he was cradled in his owner’s arms in a park area close to houses on Marlborough Road.
But now the brave eight-month-old is on the road to recovery and has remarkably taken his first steps.
Ted’s family say they have been overwhelmed by the kind messages following the incident which happened at around 3.20pm on Tuesday (October 28).
Natalie Collins, step daughter of owner Les Peace, thanked the nurses at Leahurst Animal Hospital for all their care for the family pet, telling her friends on facebook that they are ‘wonderful people’.
“We don’t know if they will close the right axilla, it all depends on what it looks like when he is under,” said Natalie.
“Fingers crossed though and then they can try and sort his leg out.”
“The ward sister telephoned yesterday and told me that he had a little walk round so she took him outside and he had a little look around and sniff. She said he was much brighter and alert.
“I’m amazed at all the kind messages I’ve had.”
Natalie said that she hoped Ted would be back home early next week, if there were no serious complications on the operating table.
Speaking to the Chronicle last week, owner Les Peace said he scooped up his eight-month-old pet as the dogs ran at his feet, but one of them leapt up and latched onto the puppy and tried to rip its leg off.
The 60-year-old described how he kicked out at the dog – believed to have been a lurcher – as it hung from his puppy’s leg by its teeth and was forced to drop Ted.
But horrifyingly the second dog, which Mr Peace believed was an American bullmastiff, joined the onslaught during the incident in a park area close to houses on Marlborough Road.
The attack only stopped when two women, believed to be the owners, came running and forced the animals to stop, he said.
“It is horrific, they nearly tore him in half,” said Mr Peace, who said his pet has a gaping tear from his neck all the way down to his back leg and had emergency surgery yesterday.
“I had to fight to save my dog’s life, I hit them, I punched them, I did everything I could to get them off, but the lurcher just would not let go.
“It was like a horror movie. I cannot get it out of my head.”
Mr Pearce, who is a former police sergeant, described the heartbreaking moment he thought his dog had died as he picked him off the ground and held him close to his chest so his wife Susan couldn’t see the extend of Ted’s injuries as they rushed to get him to the vets.
“I thought Ted was dead as I picked him up, but he made a little whining sound,” said Mr Peace.
“My wife [Susan] was driving, she was hysterical. We thought he had died in the car.
“They are concerned about his leg, the dog almost ripped it down to the bone.”
And as a father and step father Mr Peace, who says he confronted the owner of the dogs after taking Ted to hospital, said he feared that the situation could have been much worse as young children and families use the grassy area.
“What if it had been my wife, she is only 5ft 2inch, or my step daughter, they take him quite regularly. I dread to think what would have happened,” he said.
“They should not have left them off the lead. I am still in shock. It was only after the incident that I thought what about the children and the little dogs, what if it had been one of them?”
“You cannot blame the dogs, it was [the owner] who was in charge of these dogs, she let them off the lead.”
A spokesperson for Cheshire police confirmed that they had received a report of two dogs attacking an eight-month-old pet in Ellesmere Port, and were currently looking into the incident.
