Check up on dog walkers before entrusting your pet to another person, a retired animal welfare officer has warned after being besieged by unleashed dogs in a public park.

The incident on Monday involved a dog walker at Shelly Bay Park, according to Debbie Masters, formerly of the SPCA.

She was walking Champ, her American Bulldog, which was adopted from the animal shelter and the last of its breed to be permitted before they became a prohibited breed in Bermuda.

“All of a sudden, two humungous loose dogs came flying out in attack mode — a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Boxer,” Ms Masters said.

“Those are restricted breeds and they’re some of the biggest going.

“They’re not allowed to be loose anywhere, let alone in a park.

“My heart stopped — I thought today was the day I’m dead. It could have been a huge fight.”

She said she had trained her dog thoroughly not to fight.

“My dog did exactly what I asked him, or everybody would have been hurt,” she added.

She was then approached by a man familiar to her who had three other dogs on leashes.

“He’s a dog walker who’s charging people $25 an hour,” Ms Masters said.

“I’m not going to name him, but it’s the second time he’s been out walking peoples’ dogs there with dogs off the leash, which is against the law.

“It was a lot of work for me to turn my dog around. I’m tired of irresponsible people. This guy didn’t even apologise. They need to clear up their act, and the public needs to be made aware that when you pay someone to look after your pet, you need to make sure that you know what they’re doing.”

• For more information about Animal Control, visit www.animals.gov.bm/portal/server.pt