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Dog mauled in Goldstream park

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Vance Walle shows the stitches and wounds in the neck of Cooper

Surgical tubing pokes out the fresh wound on his neck, but that isn’t stopping Cooper the dog from running around with the energy of a one-year-old puppy.

The chocolate lab was attacked and mauled by a pitbull in Goldstream park Thursday morning, says owner Vance Walle, and is lucky to be alive.

Walle, a Langford developer, said he was walking his two labs off-leash in the forest on the west side of the park, when they came across a grey off-leash pitbull. The dogs didn’t fight, Walle said, but the pitbull lunged without warning and got its jaw around Cooper’s neck.

The other owner did an admirable job getting his hands into the pitbull’s mouth, but it took about five minutes to pry the dog off.

“It felt like an hour,” he said. “It was a long process to get the dog of my dog’s neck. (The pitbull) was tossing him around by his throat. He was ripped up pretty good.”

Walle said he asked the owner for his name several times, but it wasn’t forthcoming, although he indicated he was from Langford. At a minimum, the pitbull’s owner shouldn’t allow his dog off leash, Walle said.

“I want to get the word out so no one gets hurt. This dog isn't safe around other dogs,” Walle said. “That dog should be on a leash or be muzzled.”

Cooper the lab had surgery on Thursday afternoon and is recovering.

Anyone with information on this attack can email Walle at vanceandcheryl@hotmail.com.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com