By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
NAOMI Taguchi lived a nightmare on the footpath of her own neighbourhood in Cranbourne.
Walking home on Marklin Street with her two young daughters, aged one and three, and small papillon dog, Ms Taguchi never thought their lives would be in danger.
“My heart was in my throat, I was panicking with sheer terror,” she said when the large dog resembling a bull mastiff started charging towards them.
It was 5pm, on Wednesday 7 October, when Ms Taguchi noticed the thin rope tying the dog to a verandah pole.
“I walked up past a house that had a fence but no gate and couldn’t see the owner of the dog, then the rope broke and it ran toward me barking more aggressively than before,” Ms Taguchi said.
“I started moving to get away and then my legs were pushed out from under me and the next thing I knew the dog was attacking my dog which was on top of me and I had pulled the pram down with me and my daughters were screaming hanging upside down strapped into the pram.”
Yelping, barking, crying and screams for help alerted the aggressive dog’s owner to the scene, where he dragged his dog off Ms Taguchi’s papillon.
Limping home after the dog owner apologised and offered to drive Ms Taguchi home, the owner said he hadn’t noticed that his dog had escaped.
“He kept apologising, saying the dog was still a puppy and a big boofhead,” Ms Taguchi said.
After five hours in emergency at the Casey Hospital and X-rays on her sprained ankle, Ms Taguchi found out from a neighbour that this was the second time the dog had attacked.
“She was also walking her toddler in a pram with her dog when the big aggressive dog tried to attack and ended up biting the pram,” Ms Taguchi said.
Since the incident occurred, more than two weeks ago, Ms Taguchi hasn’t been able to walk, drive or work and has had to pay numerous medical and veterinary bills including physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.
“The financial impact on my family has been huge,” she said.
With the incident now in the hands of the City of Casey, Ms Taguchi confirmed the owners of the dog decided to euthanase the animal.
Ms Taguchi, a Japanese teacher, said she had mixed emotions about the outcome.
“I’m happy the dog won’t attack anyone else but sad it wasn’t properly restrained or trained – I’m sad the dog lost its life through no fault of its own,” Ms Taguchi said.
Casey local-laws officers have been in talks with Ms Taguchi, who said the council had a strong case against the owners.
“They have broken the Domestic Animals Act of 1994 which states animals must be properly restrained and cannot rush at people,” Ms Taguchi said.
Hoping to get a form of financial compensation if the case is taken to court by the City of Casey, Ms Taguchi said: “These types of incidents are rife in this town.”
“The council has been swamped with cases, I think a lot of Cranbourne residents don’t realise what the Act and laws entail.”
Casey’s community safety manager Caroline Bell said the investigations into the attack are “ongoing” and was unable to comment further.
Read further about the rise in dog attacks in Casey.
