The dog had been ‘cleared’ by police just days before the eight-minute mauling
A woman was left needing surgery after being mauled by her dog – which she had adopted on Facebook three weeks earlier. Charlotte Potts, 32, adopted the one-year-old Cane Corso cross American Bulldog from a breeder on Facebook.
Initially, the dog – called Blue – settled in well and Charlotte says he didn’t “show any aggression” towards her and her family. But on her routine walk on Saturday morning, July 4, Blue turned on Charlotte and attacked her, sinking his jaws into her legs after ripping through her trousers.
She called for her younger brother, eight, to run and leave the enclosed dog park and call for help whilst Blue continued to attack her. The dog then went for Charlotte’s right arm which she allowed him to do whilst she used her left arm to tie his lead to a fence.
The whole ordeal lasted around eight minutes, and Charlotte was taken to hospital by ambulance whilst the dog was euthanised by the police. Charlotte, a personal trainer from Hexham, Northumberland, said: “I was trying to wrestle him off me and shouting for help.
“I was in there for seven or eight minutes with him attacking me. If I was there any longer, I wouldn’t have made it. My little brother watched it all happen.
“It felt like a really long time – I didn’t think I was going to get out of there. There’s six levels of dog bites, and six is fatal – this one was level five. I love dogs, but I want to raise awareness around making sure dogs are fully assessed before being rehomed.
Charlotte had had experience with similar breeds – an American Bulldog cross Mastiff – before she adopted Blue. She said: “I’ve just lot my large similar breed that I had for eight years from seven weeks old – so I had experience with these breeds. Everything was fine initially – he settled in well.
“He was fine on everyday walks and hadn’t shown any aggression towards dogs or children beforehand. He was getting four mile walks a day, so it was a big shock when it happened.”
Around 9am, Charlotte took Blue to the enclosed park she always had with her younger brother. They were playing around with his ball when Charlotte threw it, and instead of running for the ball, he went straight for her legs.
She said: “I went down there at 9am with my little brother. He was fine playing with the ball and then when I chucked the ball, he looked at it and then looked at me and came running for my leg.
“I screamed at my brother to get out the gate and before he had got out the gate he ripped through my tracksuit bottoms and punctured my right leg and then punctured my left leg a few times – I was screaming. I lost a lot of blood.”
Paramedics arrived on scene and Charlottle was blue lighted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and underwent a two hour-long surgery to address her wounds on her legs and arm. She was in hospital for a couple of days before being cleared to leave and now has to have regular wound dress changes.
She added: “The armed response team arrived, and he wouldn’t calm down so he was euthanised. I had surgery on Saturday, and I need to go back two times a week to get it looked at. He pierced my bicep muscle and pierced bits of my thigh.
“I’d still be in hospital if it wasn’t for my partner Rachel, and without my kick boxing background I don’t think I’d have been strong enough to fight him off.”
In the weeks before the attack, police visited Charlotte after receiving an anonymous tip off that she owned an XL Bully. They determined that Blue was an American Bulldog by taking a photo of his head and as a result, did not take him away.