Dog attack on twins outside school

The last thing a parent expects to face is a dog attack on their child outside of school.

But the parents of three year old twins experienced just that when a dog, who had escaped from a nearby property, attacked the twins outside Red Hall Primary School in Darlington.

Beware of the Dog sign

The girls’ father described the ‘surreal’ moment when he witnessed one of his children being ‘dragged along the floor’ by the dog.

The 44 year old woman owner has been arrested on suspicion of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control.

Police have said that one of the twins suffered a head injury and the other twin had bite wounds to her lower back. Both girls required hospital treatment.

The girls’ father also received bite wounds to his hand as he tried to fend the dog off.

Durham police have said that the dog was captured and will be destroyed.

Mr Renshaw, the girls’ father, was dropping his daughters off the nursery when he heard his wife screaming and shouting. When he turned around, he saw one of his children being dragged along the floor by the dog.

He said, “It was shaking her from side to side. I managed to jump onto the dog and had to put my own hand into its mouth to get it to release her.”

“Then it when for my other daughter Lilly and got her on her bum. I grabbed hold of the dog and got it off her and by then the owners were there to retrieve it.”

Dog attacks leading to hospital admission has risen by 76% in the past decade, according to Health and Social Care Information Centre statistics.

Children aged 0-9 years were the most commonly affected age group.

The most common injuries from dog attacks were open wounds to the wrists, hands, head and forearm.