A BELOVED pet shih tzu lost an eye after being mauled by another dog.
Now the injured animal's Purley owner has launched an appeal to find the owner of the aggressive dog, whom she claims simply walked away after the attack.
Antonia Tully received a panicked call from her 16-year-old son, Matthew, at about 9pm on Saturday to tell her their family pet Bertie had been attacked.
She said: "I was at the seaside with my husband and our two younger children when we got this call from Matthew and his brother who were dog sitting at home.
"We had to get a friend to go round and pick up them and Bertie, all covered in blood, to take to him the vet.
"Bertie had to have his eye removed because of how bad the wound was.
"The vet said he hadn't seen injuries like that for a long time."
Matthew had been walking back to his home in Whytecliffe Road North when a man walked past with his dog on a lead.
"The dogs had a 'dog meet' and sniffed each other," explained Mrs Tully.
"There was no indication this dog was aggressive or had a problem with other dogs.
"Suddenly the other dog viciously attacked our dog and its owner walked away saying, 'Not a lot you can do about that'.
"My son had to just pick up Bertie, who was pouring with blood from his wounds, and run home."
Unfortunately, Matthew was unable to identify the breed of dog that attacked his pet but thinks it may have been a dachshund or sausage dog.
"The most disturbing aspect was the lack of surprise on the part of this owner at what his dog had done," Mrs Tully said.
"This strongly suggests that this wasn't the first time it had mauled another dog."
Owners with dogs that kill a person can serve a maximum sentence of two years under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
Since 2005, 16 people have been killed by dangerous dogs.
There are also, on average, 210,000 attacks and 6,000 hospital visits caused by dangerous dogs each year.
However, the Government this week launched an online consultation to ask the public their opinions about tougher sentences for owners of dangerous dogs.
Under the new proposals to be tacked onto the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill 2013-14, owners with killer dogs could be sent down for life, while attacking and injuring a person or killing a guide dog could get an owner ten years in jail.
"I really think there should be some sort of penalty for owners with dogs that attack other dogs," said Mrs Tully.
"It becomes habit and they will attack a child next."
