The mother of a young girl who was savaged by a pack of Labradors at an eventing yard weeks after they did the same to a woman delivering hay wants to raise awareness of the devastating consequences if dogs are not under control.
John Hardy, 75, of Coombeland Farm in Devon was given a suspended prison sentence, at Exeter Crown Court on 13 January, for two offences of having dogs dangerously out of control and causing injury.
The court heard the pack had attacked two visitors to the yard within a few weeks, early last year; a woman delivering hay, then the young girl.
“The dogs attacked like a pack of hounds at the kill,” her mother, who cannot be named to avoid identifying the child, told H&H.
The mother had taken both her daughters to view a horse, for her older child. They had finished riding and she was talking to Hardy with the girls nearby.
“Through the archway, these eight Labradors came flat out, barking,” she said. “I didn’t think Labradors would attack a child but they jumped at her, got her on the floor and attacked her.
“They wouldn’t let go. They bit my older daughter’s boots, thankfully they were leather, and they bit me, but while he casually got them off; he showed no urgency. My daughter had 36 bite wounds. To this day, he’s never apologised.
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“In court, his barrister said he’s really remorseful and wanted to pass on how sorry he is, but I thought, ‘You’re 75, you can say sorry.’”
The young girl had to go to hospital and still has physical, and mental, scars.
“For her, it’s devastating,” her mother said. “She’s got really nasty PTSD, and horses and dogs go together so she hardly comes to events any more. Even in the town centre, we saw a Labrador before Christmas and it was very old, but she freaked out.
“When it was going on, she was saying, ‘Am I going to die, Mummy? Don’t let me die.’”
After the incident, the mother found out about the other attack.
“He knew how aggressive those dogs were,” she said. “He let it happen.”
“Now, I would be a lot more wary; I’d ask if there are dogs at a property. I’m a dog lover, we’ve got three, but so many people have said they’ve visited a yard and been bitten and I think it goes on quite a lot.
“He’s messed up lives and people need to be aware of dogs on yards, and if you own them, keep them under control.”
The other woman told H&H she had just got out of her vehicle when the pack attacked from behind.
“I didn’t see them coming, didn’t know they were there,” she said. “When you say you got bitten, people think they bit and let go, but they were clamped on, tearing and ripping; they went for the kill. I didn’t really know what was going on, I just felt the pain and couldn’t get away. As I was being dragged away, lumps coming out of me, they were still clamped on.”
The woman spent five days in hospital and had two operations to debride her many wounds, and skin grafts.
“It dragged on for months,” she said. “It was horrendous.”
The woman said Hardy did apologise to her, but took no action to control his dogs; she reported the incident to the police but the pack attacked the girl a few weeks later.
“I didn’t want it to happen to anyone else; my daughter’s four and if it had been her, they’d have got her face,” she said. “But it took the police six weeks to take my statement and in that time, they’d got the little girl.”
The woman said she is now terrified of dogs and echoed the mother’s call for greater awareness.
The court issued five contingent dog destruction orders; three have been put down. Hardy was given a 15-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and must complete 150 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay £5,000 for each victim.
British Horse Society (BHS) safety team leader Des Payne told H&H: “This must have been a horrific incident for those involved and our thoughts are very much with them during this difficult time.
“It sets a reminder to all dog owners that having your dog(s) under close control is extremely important to help prevent incidents. This is even more essential in an equine setting. We can’t forget that horses are flight animals, dogs are natural predators, and unfortunately sometimes these instincts take over and result in undesirable behaviours.”
Between 2010 and August last year, 1,471 dog-related incidents were reported to the BHS; these included three human and 21 equine fatalities and 454 human and 512 equine injuries.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
