A dog attack that left a Christchurch father and his teenage son in hospital was a bloodbath, a friend of the dogs' owner says.
The father and son were visiting a friend in Bevin Place in Bryndwr on Saturday afternoon when the boy was attacked by two American Bulldog cross dogs.
The boy, aged in his early teens, was seriously injured, while his father suffered critical injuries trying to protect his son.
The dogs' owner also sustained minor injuries during the attack.
On Monday police said a 40-year-old woman had been summonsed to court under the Dog Control Act in relation to the attack.
A friend of the dogs' owner, who did not want to be identified, said the attack came out of nowhere and everyone was in shock.
"I know what the risk factors are and these dogs don't fit the description, they really don't," she said.
"This is not a shit owner, this is not shit dogs. This is just a really, really horrible event. I can't put it down to any one thing. The kid isn't someone who's going to be kicking the dogs or anything, he just ran outside."
The woman said the boy knew the dogs, who were sisters and had lived with their owner since they were born about four years ago.
"She's a good dog owner. They're usually very obedient, they're respectful dogs, they ask before they eat or get on the couch or anything," she said.
"The property is well secured. Everything is set up to succeed and for some reason everything escalated that day."
After the dogs started barking at the boy, his father and the owner rushed to help him, the friend said.
"They ran out there yelling at the dogs to stop and that might have enhanced the excitement at the time," she said.
"Then they managed to separate the dogs off and confine them and started moving towards the front of the property to get the kid out of the front gate to safety."
The woman said the dogs escaped and again rushed at the boy and that was when the man was grievously injured while trying to protect his son.
"He got him on to the bonnet of the car and he was trying to fend the dogs off and because he was in between them and the kid, they got him," she said.
"All the bites were on the legs.
Pair in good spirits
"Our friend, he's the one classed as critical, he's actually fine but it nicked a vein so there was quite a lot of blood coming out. It looked like something terrible had happened. It was a bloodbath."
The woman said the pair remained in hospital and might need surgery.
"They're in good spirits and they're recovering and stable," she said.
She said dogs' owner had apologised to the boy's father and he had replied, "what are you sorry for? This isn't your fault".
"The kid's a lovely kid, he's a nice guy. Everything is just a really shit, horrible situation," she said.
"I was just speaking to him before and he was good. His son was singing songs and in high spirits."
The woman was questioning how the attack happened.
Pepper-sprayed by police
"The owner's devastated. She's devastated for her friend and his son, and her dogs," she said.
"They're family pets. She's got a one-year-old child and they've always been really great with the kid. They're used to children.
"There was an incident a few months ago where police were searching a neighbouring property and they wanted to come over on to this property to search for whoever they were chasing and they pepper-sprayed the dogs and ever since then they've really not been the same. They've been more reactive.
"I can't understand why once they were confined they still felt the need to break out again and neither does their owner. She's devastated and she's pretty realistic about the fact that she's not going to try to fight to keep the dogs. Realistically they're going to have to be in [the pound] for a long time and it costs per day to have them in there and the chances of them ever saying, 'yeah, good idea, keep the dogs' is probably never going to be high and she's got a baby to think about.
"So she's probably going to do the really hard thing and it's really sad because you can't even say goodbye to them and I know that sounds probably insane to anybody else because these are the dogs that did the attack but to us they're family. We know them really well, they're not horrible dogs."
Christchurch City Council said it had not previously received complaints about the dogs.
"The dogs have been impounded pending an ongoing police investigation," the council said.
"The owner may voluntarily surrender the dogs for euthanasia or on conviction the court must grant an order for destruction unless the owner can demonstrate exceptional circumstances as to why the dogs should not be destroyed."
'Very troubling'
Fendalton Ward councillor David Cartwright told Checkpoint the attack was devastating.
"Obviously, this dog attack and all dog attacks are getting a lot of media attention at the moment, but for what appears to be a couple of family pets to have turned and to attack people that they knew, very troubling," he said.
"Obviously our thoughts go back to the father, the son, you know, the dog owner, and of course, the first responders who on all accounts were faced with quite a horrific scene when they got there."
Cartwright said they had received three or four e-mails from people across the city with concerns around dogs on Monday.
"Matters which they feel that aren't necessarily being responded to or haven't been responded to their liking, and I've referred those on through to staff," he said.
"What's in one of the e-mails I received today was a particular person who a dog rushed from a what was a fenced property and jumped a fence and approached and threatened another dog... quite unsatisfactory sort of circumstances for everybody involved."
Cartwright said the city had new bylaws only introduced in November which had to be reviewed every decade.
"So I'm confident that the staff have a good resources in what they need to be able to do," he said.
Cartwright was asked about there being only two prosecutions in Christchurch across 2024 and 2025, with more than 600 attacks.
"That's probably an operational matter for the council staff to answer directly," he said
"I would be interested to know how that relates across New Zealand."
He said Christchurch had a large dog population of about 45,000.
"So on average, there's about one dog to every nine residents in the city," he said.
"But you know, every report or every complaint should be thoroughly investigated, and I have confidence that it is."
