My son, 5, screamed ‘help mummy’ as I fought off 3 German Shepherds that were mauling him – the owner did nothing
A MUM has spoken of her horror as three “out-of-control” German Shepherds mauled her five-year-old son as she walked home with her newborn baby and three other children.
Little Logan Royle was running ahead of his mum Ashley, 31, and his four siblings down an alley as he tried to “race” them home, when he was pulled to the floor by the crazed dogs in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
Brave Ashley revealed how one dog pinned the youngster to the floor and started attacking him while a second tried to run at him – as she repeatedly hit the animal and tried to keep the other two away.
Ashley’s hero daughters, aged 13 and 15, quickly sprung to action, taking their 16-week-old baby sister and nine-year-old brother to safety while their mum battled to save Logan from the “nightmare” attack.
Little Logan, who had to go to hospital with his injuries, told The Sun: “The dog bit me on my back and my belly and I hurt my finger.”
Mum Ashley added: “Me and the kids were walking home, I stopped on the avenue to speak to my friend that lives over the road.
“And we then started to head over the road to come home. And my son, Logan, he ran down the alley a couple of feet in front of me. And as as he stopped, he saw the dog.
“He turned around, looked at me, ran back towards me straight away, and started shouting, ‘Mummy, Mummy”.
“And the dog ran to straight towards him, and jumped on him and pinned him to the floor.
“I ran over and tried to get the dog off of him there, trying to barricade him at the time from the other dogs.
“And then there was my other four children there at the time as well. My oldest daughter grabbed my pram and ran over the road. My other daughter went with my nine-year-old to get my friend.
“I started hitting hit the dog on the head. I hit the dog as much as I could to try and get it off him. But then as I’m trying to get that one off, there’s another one coming. And so I’m trying to barricade Logan at the same time and, and I didn’t realise until later with all the adrenaline that the dog had actually bit me too.
“It was awful, he was screaming ‘Mummy, mummy’ and he was crying. He’s been a really brave boy but at the time, he was crying loads. And it took me about 20 minutes to calm him down afterwards.”
OWNER ‘STOOD AND WATCHED’
Ashley said that during the attack the owner “did nothing” to try and get his dogs off Logan.
“None of them had a lead on, they were lose,” she said.
“And I told the owner ‘Get your f***ing dogs off!’ but he just stood there.
“It all happened in seconds and minutes, you just can’t concentrate on what you’re doing. All I could do was hit the dog with my hands trying to get it off of him.
“Eventually, after I got them off, Logan got up and turned to me the dogs just went off with the owner and ran off.
“The man didn’t say sorry. He didn’t come to check on them. He didn’t do anything. He did absolutely nothing.
‘IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE’
“If Logan hadn’t turned around when he did, he wouldn’t look the way he looks now, that’s for sure. The dogs were fierce. It could have been so much worse.
“I dread to think what could have happened if the dogs had gone for my baby – or the other kids.”
Ashley took Logan to hospital and then called police and she says son Logan, who has autism, has been traumatised by the incident.
She said: “I needed a tetanus jab at the hospital as well as some antibiotics just in case. And Logan got put on antibiotics but he already had his jabs.
TRAUMATISED
“His injuries are healing but he will have permanent scarring.
“And he’s like a different child now, he’s been traumatised. He can’t go to the park, he doesn’t like going to school anymore, he doesn’t like leaving the house. He very likes to try and go everywhere in the car and he has to go on his dad’s shoulders to go to school now.
“We were at the park on Sunday and he couldn’t even he couldn’t even look at any of the dogs that were walking around.
“You know, you get lovely little old ladies with their little dogs and normally he loves to just stop and play with them all the time. But now he won’t, this has really affected him.
“His siblings were traumatised too.
“It was horrible. And every time we leave the house now, I always double check they are not out there. This was on my doorstep.
“If you know your dogs are aggressive, why not have them on leads?”
CALL FOR ACTION
Animal lover Ashley, who has two dogs and six cats of her own, is now calling for the dogs to be destroyed and their owner brought to justice.
“These are dangerous dogs and he still wants them out without a lead,” she said.
“If it was my dog, I would have it put to sleep no question.
“I’d have to, because once they get the draw of blood, that’s it, you can never guarantee that they won’t do it again.
“I want these dogs put down, and I want him sent to prison.
“What has a little boy done wrong running up the alley? He was running home. He likes to get in the gate first and say ‘You guys are smelly. I win,’ That kind of thing. Now we can’t play that game.”
“The man made no effort, no attempt to even try and pull the dogs back or get them off, nothing.
“I’d be devastated if my dog went for anybody – I’d be doing everything to pull him off.
‘NONE OF US FEEL SAFE’
“There are two schools on this road so there are kids walking up and down all the time from nursery age to year six. None of us feel safe anymore.”
Ashley says she’s been too scared to walk her own dogs since the attack.
The attack on Logan is the latest in a number of violent dog attacks over the past few months.
Just last month a man was mauled to death by two XL Bully dogs as he tried to protect his elderly mum from the animals after they leapt from a neighbour’s window in Staffordshire.
And days earlier a Birmingham schoolgirl told how she nearly died after being savaged by an out-of-control XL Bully.
Ashley says there should be more action taken against the owners of dangerous dogs.
“It’s definitely down to the owners because otherwise the dogs wouldn’t behave like that,” she said.
“German Shepherds are normally a lovely breed of dog. XL Bullys can be a lovely breed of a dog. It just depends on the person that’s got them and how they are trained and raised.”
POLICE APPEAL
South Yorkshire Police have appealed for information on the dog owner.
“We’re appealing for the owner of the dogs described or anyone with information to help us locate them to come forward following a boy being attacked,” they said in a statement yesterday.
“On Saturday 7 October, it is reported that a five-year-old boy was attacked by three German Shepherds dogs while on Balfour Road in Doncaster.
“It is believed that the owner of the dogs did not attempt to get them under control and left the scene.
“The boy suffered puncture wounds to his body and required medical treatment.
“We’re urging the owner of the dogs to come forward, or anyone who may be able to assist with our enquiries to get in touch.
“The owner is described as white, between 6ft and 6ft 2ins tall, and aged between 30 and 40 years old. At the time he was wearing a long green coat and light green combat trousers.”