After a passing Mastiff killed her beloved pet, a Victorian woman is pushing for stricter laws around dog attacks.
In July, when a car drove by, Shani Francis was walking her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel ‘Ruby’ with a friend around her Clyde estate.
“I had noticed the car but thought nothing of it as we proceeded to walk down the street,” Francis said.
Moments later, Francis said, a man let his black Mastiff get out of the car with no collar and no leash.
The dog charged at her friend Francis, catching Ruby from behind and trying to drag her backwards.
As her friend grasped the attacking Mastiff by the scruff of his neck, Francis tightly kept on to Ruby’s neck.
“The man then came down to try and grab his dog but he had no control of it at all,” Francis said.
“He didn’t say one word to me… the only thing he said to Rachel was ‘let go of his dog’.”
Francis says she was left, covered in Ruby’s blood, as the man loaded his dog back into the car and drove off.
“Our dogs could have bled out at the scene and he still didn’t stop,” Francis said.
“He chose to be an absolute coward and try and run away.”
In the attack, Ruby sustained extreme deep puncture wounds, leaving her with catastrophic internal injuries.
Vets attempted to save the life of the little puppy, but she died after her third surgery-leaving Francis with a vet bill of $11,000.
Devastated and mourning her pet’s death, Francis calls on the City of Casey to introduce laws requiring the parties involved in a dog attack to exchange information.