By Katie Green

Copyright cambridge-news

A man and his dog were brutally attacked by three other dogs while on a walk. A man, who wished to remain anonymous, took his dog, Archie, for a walk on Friday evening (September 12) in Marholm, near Peterborough.

The man regularly walks his dog in this area. As he was walking around, he started to notice another man with three large dogs.

“I had Archie off the lead at the time, but I saw this guy had his dogs off-lead and thought he may be training them, so I put Archie on a lead in case,” the man said. All of a sudden the other man started to sprint towards his van, which the dog owner thought was “weird”.

Then one of the dogs started to run towards the man and Archie, so they started to walk away. The man added: “As the dog got closer to us, I didn’t think he looked friendly at all.

“So I got between him and Archie and then he went around us and went straight for Archie’s leg.” The man attempted to get the dog off Archie’s leg, but as he was trying, two other large dogs came towards him and Archie and started to attack Archie’s other legs.

“It was like a gazelle being ripped apart by a lion,” said the man. He added: “It was literally each side the dogs were trying to rip Archie apart.

“The other man tried to throw stones at his dogs to get them to stop, but it wasn’t working.” The man tried to get in between the dogs to try and stop them attacking Archie but it was hard to stop them.

The man added: “These dogs were big, they were around 50 to 60kg.” Eventually the dogs backed down before the owner left the scene.

The man then called the police and ambulance service, who arrived to care for him and Archie. The man was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital to undergo surgery on his hand, while Archie had to be rushed to a vet in Werrington. He was later taken to another vet in Cambridge for “life saving” surgery.

The man added: “My thumb nail has been completely taken off. I had to have plastic surgery at Addenbrooke’s. My wrist was bitten as well.

“I stayed overnight on Saturday in case there was an infection. I’ve been released now and am on antibiotics and have a follow up appointment to check everything is ok.

“Archie is a lot worse off than me. The vets had to make sure he was stable [before surgery] as his heart was all over the place.

“His lung was punctured, his heart was bruised and he was bruised all over the place. They performed life saving surgery on Saturday morning and said the next 48 hours were really important.”

Archie is slowly recovering from the ordeal, and has started to eat on his own. The man said: “He’s on a lot of pain killers and he’s got a big wound on his leg that they have left open as there is a lot of soft tissue.

“He needs to let his body rest now. We are hoping by Friday that we will have some better news and hope he can come home, but what was most important was those first 48 hours.”

With the treatment Archie has had to have, it has cost the man and his partner so far around £14,000 in vet bills. They are covered up to £5,000 on pet insurance.

He added: “We’ve said we don’t care about money, as long as he survives.” Since the incident, the man has not been able to sleep properly.

He said: “I’ve not slept properly since Friday. When I close my eyes I see Archie’s helpless face begging for help.

“That’s the sort of dog he is, he doesn’t defend himself because he is not like that.” The man hopes the other dog owner can be caught so something else doesn’t happen like it did to him and Archie.

Cambridgeshire Police were called to the incident just before 7.45pm on Friday. A police spokesperson said: “We were called to Walton Road, Marholm, at 7.44pm on Friday (September 12) to reports that a man and his dog had been attacked by three other dogs, believed to be Cane Corsos, who were off-lead.

“Both the man and his dog were injured, and the man was taken to hospital by paramedics for treatment to his hand. The man walking the three dogs did not speak to the victim afterwards and walked away on foot towards Woodcroft Road.”

Police are appealing for witnesses, dashcam or doorbell footage into the incident. Anyone with information should call police on 101 or report it online and quote crime reference 35/69314/25.