Family dog ‘saw red’ and launched ‘taste for blood’ attack on kids

A mother has recounted the horrifying incident when she had to protect her young children from a dog that, in her words, “wasn’t stopping until someone was dead.” Emma Dean, 25, was staying at her in-laws’ residence with her three children, aged nine, seven and four, on Saturda, February 15 when the family dog, Bruno, suddenly turned aggressive and  attacked them.

Recalling the incident which occurred around 11.40pm in Woodchurch, Emma said: “I have three kids, we had been sleeping at my mother-in-law’s [Joanne White] like we do on a weekend. My two eldest were asleep on the sofa bed in the living room. My four-year-old had just woken up and came over to me – I had been sitting on a gaming chair in the kitchen.”

She continued: “The dog was very protective of me and when my son came over to sit on me he started growling at my son. I told him to move and the dog then went over to the man of the house [Gary Hall, Emma’s father-in-law] who told him off. He jumped up and nipped him on his hand. Gary said ‘he just nipped me’ and my mum-in-law came in and said ‘what?’

“Then the next minute the dog just attacked his leg. I quickly got my kids on the chair I was sitting on and wheeled them to the back porch to safety and shut the door. Once I had got them to safety I rang the police because then my mum-in-law was being attacked on the floor by the dog.

“My father-in-law had managed to get away from the dog and got upstairs. My mum-in-law jumped on top of the dog to try and stop it from attacking her. He was ragging her everywhere on the floor at that point and I rang the police”, reports Liverpool Echo.

Initially, the police suggested that the children were playing “hide and seek” during the attack, but Emma refuted this claim. She remembered feeling “felt helpless” as she “couldn’t do anything” for Joanne. Her primary concern was her children. When Merseyside Police arrived, they encouraged Joanne to release Bruno, but she was too frightened, knowing he would likely attack again.

“She let go of the dog and he carried on going so the police tasered him. He was still trying to attack her so they tasered him again. He then ran out of the front door and we shut the door behind him. At that point more police officers had arrived through the back of the house and were talking to my kids.”

Emma, a Liverpool resident, revealed that her children were left “traumatised” by the incident. Speaking to the ECHO, she said: “The kids were asleep at the time, my four-year-old had woken up and I was just about to take him back to bed when it all happened. I’ve got bad mental health so seeing this has been traumatic, I thought my mum-in-law was going to die. It looked like she had been stabbed a billion times.”

Bruno, a dog thought to be of the staffy breed, was rescued by Joanne, 44, and her partner Gary, 43, just eight weeks before a tragic incident occurred. Emma, who is now questioning Bruno’s breed, revealed that a post-mortem is underway to determine his exact lineage.

She recounted the harrowing ordeal: “He was a lovely dog but he just turned. We only had him for eight weeks, we got told it was a Staff.”

The attack left Joanne severely injured, requiring hospitalisation and surgery. Emma described the terror: “It was terrifying, if we weren’t staying and it had happened they wouldn’t have been able to phone the police. She’s been bitten over 60 times on her arms and face. My father-in-law has a chunk out of his leg and she (Joanne) is in a bad way in hospital. She needs surgery again today.”

Despite the trauma, Emma is grateful her children were unharmed, though deeply shaken, with her youngest fearing for his grandmother’s life. The family had loved Bruno, believing he was good with children, but the dog’s aggression seemed to be triggered by jealousy.

Emma speculated: “From our point of view he just got jealous of my son trying to get on my knee and when Gary told him off he saw red and thought ‘you’re not the boss of me.’ Then when we got the taste for blood he wasn’t stopping until someone was dead. He didn’t listen to me either, usually he listens to me but he didn’t he just looked at me and carried on.”

She credits her presence and quick thinking for preventing an even worse outcome: “I’m just so glad I was there because they wouldn’t have been able to ring the police. It was my fast thinking that saved everyone.”

Following the recent incident, Merseyside Police have provided an update. According to a representative from the force: “One of the people injured has been released from hospital and one remains. As the dog was handed over to be humanely destroyed it was not typed.”