A DOG owner has shared horrific pictures showing how his pet’s head was almost ripped off during an attack by two Italian Bullmastiffs.
Howie Bunkham was also savaged during the attack after which his pet, Ollie, needed four hours of surgery.
The wound ripped in Ollie’s neck was “millimeters away from his main artery” and almost cost the dog its life..
Howie, 52, himself needed treatment at A&E after one of the dogs gnashed through the thick coat he was wearing.
Gruesome photos show Oscar post-surgery, with bloodied stitching joining his neck and shoulder together.
Pictures of Harry’s wounds show also a deep gash on his forearm and a cut on his leg.
Howie, from Farnham, Surrey, was walking Oscar in his local park on Saturday when the two dogs approached him off their leads.
Suddenly, one of the dogs latched onto Oscar’s neck and refused to let go.
As Howie struggled to protect Oscar, he was bitten by the second dog, causing him to fall to the ground.
The ordeal only came to an end when the dogs’ owner managed to free Oscar by thumping his own dog on the forehead with his fist.
Howie says he asked for the owners details but the man refused, saying he “didn’t start it.”
A shaken Howie immediately took traumatised Oscar to the vets, where he received further cuts to his neck to enable vets to operate properly.
Now Howie and wife Jo are raising awareness of the incident and the dangers of dogs more generally.
Jo shared the graphic photos of Oscar’s injuries on Facebook on Saturday.
One woman wrote: “This is awful your poor dog. This cannot go unpunished.”
Another added: “How awful poor little dog, I hope you find who did this, it mustn’t be allowed to happen again, it could have been a child! Hope you dog is better soon.”
Speaking today, Howie said: “Oscar is making good progress, he’s sleeping a lot and he’s eating okay, but psychologically you can’t really say.
“The vet was quite shocked. When they opened him up they said it was milliliters from his main artery.”
He added: “I wanted the owner’s details but he refused and said: ‘I didn’t start it, you know where to find me’ which I don’t really know what that means.
“It’s about building awareness, it’s not so much about breeds, it’s the way dogs are brought up.
“This dog was quite young and obviously hadn’t been brought up right, he clearly had no control.”
