Libby Oakes-Ash now walks her dog Charlie with a metal pipe in her hand. Photos: Michelle Kroll, Region Media.
As part of her early morning routine, Libby Oakes-Ash takes her small dog Charlie for a walk, but after a traumatic experience that left her small pup with several puncture wounds, she now carries a large pipe in her hand.
Last Friday morning (11 October), Libby was walking Charlie, a cross between a Maltese and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, down Dawes Street in Kingston. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an off-lead German Shephard across the road, with the owner 30 metres in front of it.
“Being a dog owner, you always watch the dogs that are off-lead so I kept my eye on him but he seemed to not mind us,” Libby shared with Region Media. “Suddenly, the dog lifted its head and within a second it came bolting across the road.”
Despite Libby’s best efforts, the German Shephard grabbed Charlie, puncturing him just behind his front legs. Then it began ragdolling Charlie.
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Every Thursday afternoon, we package up the most-read and trending RiotACT stories of the past seven days and deliver straight to your inbox..“I was screaming for help and Charlie was also making this high-pitch scream,” Libby said. “It was horrifying and I didn’t know what to do. I feared for Charlie’s and my life, it was that terrifying.”
Somehow, Charlie managed to escape and bolted back home. As Libby chased him home, she saw out of the corner of her eye that the owner had managed to pin the German Shephard to the ground by laying on him.
Libby said she hasn’t slept well since the attack.
“Charlie was trembling, crying and with blood on him,” she shared. “He wouldn’t let me touch him till we got inside. We took him down to the vet to treat him for his couple of deep puncture wounds. The vet said he was really lucky because German Shephards can rip the guts out of small dogs.”
Libby said Domestic Animal Services responded promptly to her call for help, patrolling the area over the weekend but the owner has still not been found. In an attempt to find the person responsible, Libby posted her experience on Facebook, which received an immediate response.
“One lady contacted me, saying that the same German Shephard attacked her dog a few months ago as she walking down the same street with a baby in the pram,” Libby said. “Another person saw the owner walking the dog off-leash on Friday afternoon, just hours after it attacked Charlie. I have been told it has attacked in the past so now I am worried about what it may do next.”
Libby walked Charlie again this morning with a metal pipe in her hand, scared and terrified that she will bump into the dog.
“I haven’t slept well, suffering flashbacks to my pup being thrown around like a ragdoll,” she said. “My early morning walks which I loved are now making me feel ill. My dog was lucky but the next one might not be, so I am telling my story because I want to make sure it doesn’t attack again.”
Domestic Animal Services said its investigation into the incident is ongoing.
“Domestic Animal Services received a report of a dog being attacked by another dog in the Kingston area on the morning of Friday 11 October. DAS attended the scene and spoke with the owner of the attacked dog,” DAS said in a statement.
“DAS is currently working with the community to locate the attacking dog and its owner.”
Canberra Liberals Nicole Lawder said the Barr Government has failed to protect Canberrans and their beloved pets from vicious dog attacks for years.
“Witnessing your pet be savagely attacked by an off-leash dog is a deeply traumatising event,” Ms Lawder said. “I really feel for this resident and her pet, and anyone else who has gone through a similar situation.
“The Barr Government has demonstrated an incapacity to enforce ACT laws and has repeatedly failed to support rangers who work hard to manage these stressful situations. If Labor and the Greens really cared about our family pets, they would better support our rangers, and enforce dog management laws.”
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I’ve lived in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra and Canberra is by far the worst city, in my experience, for illegal off leash dogs. I too struggle to walk my dog without at least once per walk encountering an off leash dog. Many, many times these have not been pleasant encounters. What is the point of having laws if they aren’t enforced.
Chanel Bernal id probs walk with a pipe anyways hahahh
Emma Hawley aww poor dog!
Roslyn Donnelly - a good practice. My father always walked with a heavy stick after he'd been attacked by a small 🐶 - and that was in suburban Adelaide. 😖
Don’t use a stick Libby. Go to Woolies and get a small’ish can of deodorant and spray it at an attacking dogs eyes.
I used to walk me dog with a walking stick because I was scared of the dogs on the corner would jump or bust through their fence that was old and rickerty
I’ve ordered one of those cattle prods which will be ideal for where I walk my dog. I will try it out on the brown snakes too.
Maljini Ranaraja 😞 its the dog that used to be at the cafe
Nana Kohen Charlie? 😞
It looks like him 😭
The other problem is people who haven’t socialised their dogs appropriately, take them to off lead and continue to pick up their dogs to reduce the interaction , this just creates interest from other dogs.
I understand the need for dogs to be kept on a leash. Other people font know your dog like you do. They may be quite frightened of digs.
Tamena sound familiar?
Sean McGrath maybe that's what you need to take when you take the dog for a walk.
I carry a hand held cattle prod, zaps like a tazer, buy them on ebay for $45 in Australia, takes 4 AA batteries, packs a mighty punch to stray dogs coming to attack❗
First of all they arent fur babies they are bloidy dogs and are a pack animal.Not treating them as dogs is half the problem
Being in control of your dog doesn’t necessarily mean you have to have a leash around it’s neck
🤷🏼♂️ maybe I was just very lucky but I had a large miniature poodle for 15 years who never left my side except to chase the ball... no matter what dog, cat, bird or other object may have been there to otherwise distract him. He would chew through any lead or harness I ever tried to put on him..... even chains (which only served to damage his teeth) The perfect gentleman with all other animals. Every time we went to one of those barren old dog parks he came home with fleas! Sadly he passed last year at 15 years of age. I’m not ready for another fur kid yet, and judging from the comments on this page I’m not sure I ever will be or really sure I want to for that matter
Yet flabbergastingly on the day of his death, obviously old and barely able to walk one law abiding citizen had to scream out in hysteria “He should be on a lead”! And sorry Marie
Marie Wensing... he wasn’t just an animal ....
Not to me anyway
Alex Duncan Imogen Rayner.
I had this happen recently to our 20 month old Moodle. Alfie was on lead and was attacked on my early morning run by a pitbull x staffy, off lead who escaped from her yard and went straight for Alfie. Luckily our neighbor heard my cries for help and we we able to get the dog off Alfie . I hate to think what would have been the outcome if I hadn't had her help. Responsible dog ownership, training, walking on lead and early, appropriate socialization is so important.
I always carried a short length of cane, it hurts !!
We sometimes take our dog to an oval for a doggy playtime. The ladt time we were there, our dog was set ypon by one which hadn’t been there before. The result was 2 visits to the vet as she was limping badly- soft tissue damage. We were about to fork out over $1000 for an Xray because it didn’t seem to get better- then the limping stopped. Like modt people we would pay anything to help our dog. It was only one occasion, one dog but there had never been an aggressive incident before. Luckily our dog wasn’t bitten but it seems there are some irresponsible dog owners- the other dogs play wonderfully off lead, dogs which are likely to bire or cause injury should be kept on the lead.
Vee Saunders ALL dogs should be kept on leads, unless in a designated off lead area. Just because your dog is “friendly and not likely to bite” doesn’t give you the right to have it off lead in public places. (off lead areas being the only exception)
More needs to be done to police this sort of stuff. I don’t care how “well behaved” your dog is. If you’re not in an off lead area you’re dog should not be off lead. End of story. It’s unacceptable that those of us who do the right thing have to keep a hawk eye out for other people’s dogs in order to protect our dogs and ourselves.😠
Christopher Szczerbiak right! There are reasons that we have our dogs on lead a) it’s the law, b) some of us have dogs that need to be closely monitored around other dogs/people etc, c) some people don’t like dogs and don’t want to be accosted by them. That means we don’t want randoms running up to our dogs and owners saying...it’s ok s/he is friendly. And d) I don’t want your dog shitting randomly and you not picking it up because you haven’t noticed it. It does my head in. 🤯
Sorry, this whole off lead dog thing triggers me! 😂👍
The best advice a breeder gave us was don't treat the dog as a human. They get as much benefit from a leashed walk as a free run. If YOU feel YOU want your dog to run free then do so in a dog run. Dogs really don't know the difference. I too am fed up with owners saying "He won't hurt you".....they don't know.
I think a lot of people don't even know dog body language. They let their dogs walk off the lead just because nothing has happened yet. I was walking with my westie and a golden retriever came over and ignored it's owner calling, it got infront, its body went stiff and tail up so i clapped my hands in its face and the owner was totally baffled why i did it. They love their 'babies' and forget their dogs.
*They're dogs