Dog attack terror
The elderly victim of a dog attack has been left distraught after passers-by ignored her cries for help.
Linda Leventhal claims even the animal's owner avoided her, leaving the Maroubra woman to wait for paramedics alone.
The dog did not leave any visible wounds but it was still a terrifying encounter for the 69-year-old.
She said: “It growled first and then it just went up and it got me here, there as I said and under my right breast.
“I was just screaming and screaming.”
But it was what happened next that really hurt.
“I was crying and at least nine people went past me and no one not one person stopped to say ‘are you alright’, that upset me as well.”
The dog tore her clothes but did not leave any puncture marks, although she was treated for shock by paramedics.
Linda says the dog's owner was distracted on his mobile phone when it lunged at her as she walked past the pair on Fitzgerald Avenue this morning. It was on a leash.
Dog behavioural expert Nathan Williams believes a number of factors could have triggered the attack.
He said: "If he's on the phone and he's distracted and he feels the dog goes towards her and he pulls back, that can be enough to push a dog over the edge to just react.
"If they put the leash on the dog and the dogs way too excited, just wait....wait for the dog to chill out because relaxed dogs don't bite people."
