December 28, 2005

Dear Sir,

Two weeks ago I took my six- and seven-year-old sons to Horseshoe Beach. We go there all the time as it is a great place for children to play. After about an hour we made our way to the area near Warwick Long Bay. My seven-year-old was playing near some rocks when suddenly two young unattended spaniel type dogs came running over to him and started to jump up him. Whilst I could see they were playful, they startled my son and he fell, cutting and grazing his arms, chest and legs. Shortly afterwards two women came over who were very apologetic and who eventually managed to get the dogs under some control. Having spoken to them, my sons, who were very upset, and I made our way back towards Horseshoe Beach.

About 15 minutes later I heard a woman screaming from behind us, only to turn and see the dogs again running towards us, and again begin to jump up my sons, this time scratching my youngest son. The woman, who stated she was not the owner but a friend, managed to hold on to the dogs whilst we left, and agreed they were out of control.

My sons have been very reluctant to return to the beach since, but on December 27 we returned and after assuring them that the dogs would not be there we played for about an hour. As we began to leave the same two dogs came hurtling onto the beach, again unattended and went straight for my sons and started jumping on them. They were followed by a man who tried to get control of them.

I explained my total disbelief to the man, who could only state that he thought that as it was raining and so windy that he did not expect anyone to be on the beach. My sons were once again very upset and crying and as we walked away one of the dogs, brown and white, got away again and ran straight to my youngest son, who by this time was frantic, jumped up him and scratched his stomach. To cut a long story short I left the beach with two extremely upset sons who kept saying they never wanted to return.

I have always had two dogs, and my children have grown up with dogs. I have a Great Dane and a Golden Retriever. Now my sons are afraid of other people?s dogs. Now they are afraid to go the beach. Their physical injuries heal quickly, their psychological ones will take a long time to repair.

To the owners of those two dogs I suggest the following: Read about the personalities of the dogs you buy before you let them loose on the public. Boisterous, friendly dogs can be as intimidating as aggressive dogs. Take your dogs to obedience classes, so that you and your dogs can learn how to behave in public. After what your dogs did to my sons two weeks ago, keep your dogs on a leash. Remember the law requires us to have proper control of our dogs in public places, if you don?t then be prepared to accept the consequences because I can assure you, the next time I will most certainly prosecute.