has decided to break his silence on the issue.

And the owner of the dog has also written to The Royal Gazette defending herself.

Breeder Mr. Leo Simmons has furiously denied that he made comments that the Rottweiler, Arrus, was not trained properly.

And he claims the mongrel, Blue, could have been saved if Mr. Bob Nielsen had called the vet instead of the Police, after the incident last week.

Mr. Nielsen says that Blue was attacked and killed in seconds on first Avenue in Pembroke. It was the second time in a month that dogs with Mr. Nielsen of Cavendish Apartments, Devonshire, have been attacked by Arrus. But Mr. Simmons said that Blue was not the innocent victim of the second attack.

He said: "I used to play with Arrus, whose real name is Von Lowe Haus Arras, quite a few times.

"I have his mother Yoska Von Der Wilbdenberg who is five years old and has won a number of awards at shows in Bermuda.

"On this particular day I let Arrus out and he ran away. I heard some noise and when I got there the two dogs were facing each other. I called for Arrus and as he started to come to me the dog Blue tried to nip his hocks.

Arrus turned round and attacked him.

"The dog was still alive and if Mr. Nielsen had called the vet he could have saved him, but he decided to call the Police first.'' Mr. Simmons said that Arrus had been shown once and had been trained by local trainer Mr. Charles Butterfield. He angrily denied Mr. Nielsen's claim that he had told him Arrus had not been looked after properly.

He said: "We decided to have him destroyed because I feared they would put him in kennels for eight or nine months while there was a court case, like the dog in the story in the Royal Gazette .

Mr. Simmons has shown Rottweilers, and one Dobermann pinscher, since 1984-5.

He began breeding them soon after.

He said: "Rottweilers are like children. They can be trained. My dogs are protective of their property but when I introduce people properly they are fine.'' Arrus's owner, who asked not to be named, apologised to the owner's of Blue and to Mr. Nielsen.

She said that Arrus was secure when she left him but Mr. Simmons had let him out of the kennel without her permission.

She said: "I understand Mr. Nielsen's frustration as this has happened to you twice but I will not sit back and let you try to convince the public that I did absolutely nothing to try and train my dog. This is not fiction as you put it.'' GOOD NATURED -- Dog breeder Leo Simmons with his nine-week-old daughter Le Che and dog Yoska Von Der Wilbdenberg.