Poor dog ownership may be partly to blame for a vicious attack by neighbours' dogs on an 11-year-old boy in Halfmoon Bay Feb. 12.
The attack on Alex Nightingale left him with more than 30 stitches, mainly on his forehead and eyebrow, and resulted in two dogs being euthanized the next day.
"Once you have more than one dog, you have pack mentalities," said Lynn Nestman, sports instructor for Gibsons' K9 Club. "[The owners] of the dogs were unaware of where their dogs were and what they were doing, and that group of four dogs became a pack."
Alex was leaving his friend's house next door on the afternoon of Feb. 12 when three dogs began to follow him. Suddenly two of the dogs, described as American bulldog - German shepherd crosses, pulled him to the ground and started biting. Two more dogs became involved in the attack, though they reportedly bit each other, not Alex. The attack stopped only after adults intervened.
Because the attack occurred on private property, Sunshine Coast RCMP were not called in to deal with the matter, said Sunshine Coast Regional District communications co-ordinator Kathleen Elliot. The two dogs who bit Alex had separate owners.
Alex is now recovering and returned to school on Feb. 20. His vision was not damaged in the injury.
"It was really scary I'm devastated dogs can do this," Alex told a CBC reporter.
His mother, Teresa Night-ingale, urged residents to be proactive about problem dogs in their neighbourhoods. She recalls other instances in Halfmoon Bay where dogs have suddenly displayed unpredictable behaviour, such as one dog that turned aggressive before it was discovered to have a brain tumour.
Nestman, who runs a DogSafe program that teaches elementary school students how to defuse potential dog attack situations, said the attack has left people traumatized, and added it's an example of what can happen when owners allow their dogs off-leash and unattended.
