I WOULD like to express my heartfelt thanks to those men working on the Islamic Studies Centre site in Marston Road who came to my aid when my border terrier dog and I were recently confronted by a very large and out of control Staffordshire bull terrier-type dog which was on the loose.

The men in question put themselves at risk in doing so and I believe that if they hadn’t, my dog would have been seriously injured or worse. I managed to escape with a few cuts and bruises as a result of having to back into a hedge to protect my terrier from the snapping jaws of the other dog.

I would also like to thank St Michael’s Primary School which provided a safe haven while the dog was brought under control and the local Headington PCSOs who turned up very quickly to deal with the situation.

This incident had a happy ending but it could have been far worse.

I am very concerned at the increase in numbers of bull terrier cross breeds; such dogs are more liable to be aggressive and I believe are bred for that reason.

In this case, the dog was considerably larger than a Staffordshire bull terrier and may well have crossed with a pit bull.

That such a dog was on the loose on a main road and also near a primary school, is extremely worrying. While I understand that the dog in question was soon back under its owner’s control (and the owner received a severe telling off), I am now anxious in case a similar attack happens when I am out walking my dog and am wondering what can be done to curb the cross breeding of dogs in order to render them more aggressive.

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