'My dad took our blind dog for a walk and his neck was ripped to pieces'

A dog had his ears and neck 'ripped to pieces' in a vicious attack inside a betting shop.

Kesia King, 25, from Dingle, is now too scared to walk her dog after her 11-year-old Labrador, Bentley, had his ears and neck 'ripped to pieces' in a vicious attack by another dog, leaving him needing over £1,000 worth of vet treatment.

Bentley was being walked by Kesia's dad, Bernie King, along their usual daily route on Friday, March 29, when they had stopped off in the betting shop, where the brutal attack took place. The attack has left the family straining to cover costs to save their "rock," who was given to them over 10 years ago to support Kesia's mum, who suffers badly with agoraphobia.

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Kesia told the ECHO: "My dad walks our blind Labrador, Bentley, on Park Road daily, it’s his little routine. On this day he took Bentley into the betting shop with him, as he usually would and a man also came into the betting shop and let his dog loose off the lead.

"His dog had then gone on to attack Bentley unprovoked. The attack lasted around four minutes with my dad and the owner both punching the dog to get him to lose grip...the dog bit the owner too. Bentley was injured on his ear, and his neck. The neck injury was substantial as it became infected. It ripped my Bentley's ears and neck to pieces."

The traumatic attack has left Kesia scared to walk her dog, she added: "I don’t like walking Bentley now out of the fear of it happening again, my dad is anxious but didn’t want to let what happened ruin Bentleys usual routine."

However, it is Bentley who has been left the most traumatised from the incident. Kesia said: "Bentley is more timid when meeting dogs and gets really scared when dogs bark at him or he hears loud noises in the house. He's become a lot more anxious, and we have had to give him anti-anxiety tablets to help calm him down."

The family has had to fork out over £1,000 in vet bills to save their pet but Kesia says there was no doubt about finding the funds to save their "rock." She told ECHO: "It has cost just short of £1,200 in total. Majority of that coming from out of hours vets...and then a smaller amount of £300 for his usual vets, for the treatment of the infection, anti anxiety meds, all his pain relief and antibiotics.

"It has definitely had a strain on us, and with him being elderly [nearly 11] and blind a lot of people probably wouldn’t have gone through with all the bills, but we’d pay anything to keep him happy and with us as long as possible.

"My mum suffers with agoraphobia so Bentley was a gift for her to keep her company 10 years ago, he is her rock...no amount of money would be too much to save him."

A fundraiser has been set up to help cover Bentley's vet bills, you can donate here.

The incident was reported to police and has been recorded as a civil matter.

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