Maul dog will be destroyed (From Thisisdorset)

Maul dog will be destroyed

10:30am Monday 22nd September 2008

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A DOG that mauled a seven-year-old boy was ordered by magistrates to be destroyed.

Owner Jodie Rendell, 26, of Magnolia Close, Weymouth, appeared before town magistrates to contest a destruction of dog order.

She had previously admitted that Shadow, her two-year-old Japanese Akita, had bitten the seven-year-old boy - who cannot be named by order of the court - after escaping from her home.

Jonathon Kingdon, prosecuting, said in May this year the boy was playing with his friend when the dog leapt on him from behind and bit his arm and back.

In a statement, a neighbour who fended off the dog said: "The dog had him pinned to the floor with his paw on his back, ready to bite again.

"I was shaking and scared myself, I shouted to the dog to get off, which distracted it, and I managed to drag the boy away."

The neighbour said the boy had three to five quite large' puncture wounds in his right arm and bites to his shoulder.

He said: "He was bleeding and had what looked like fatty tissue on his T-shirt.

"He was crying and in a bad state of shock."

Mr Kingdon said the boy's father appeared with his Labrador just as Rendell rushed out to put a lead on the dog.

In a statement, the father said the Akita broke free of Rendell, grabbed his Labrador and flung it to the ground like a rag doll.' The father restrained the dog but was bitten on the wrist as Rendell pulled Shadow away.

Rendell said her children had let the dog out while answering the door to someone.

She said: "There's no excuse for what Shadow did to that boy, none whatsoever.

"But as I came around the corner my dog came bouncing over to me, he's a dear little boy, it was like there were two different dogs."

She said her two children, aged four and five, played with Shadow and he was a very loving dog.' Magistrates heard she would do anything to save him.

She said Shadow would be rehomed with her parents a mile away, kept on a muzzle and never walked by children.

Magistrates heard the seven-year-old boy had been playing with Shadow only a few days before and pulling his lips'.

Magistrates said they could not conclude that the dog does not constitute a danger to the public and therefore the destruction order has to be made.' They noted that this was a distressing incident for all.

Rendell was ordered to pay a £100 fine, £200 compensation to the boy and a £15 victim surcharge.

The court heard Shadow had been kept at Weymouth Police Station kennels since the incident but no order for kennelling costs would be made.

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