Gregory Robinson
A woman was left with life changing injuries after being attacked by her own dog.
Emma Birch, 36, was bitten on her lip by her beloved family dog Hobo in a freak attack.
The two-year-old springer spaniel cross lurcher lived with Emma at home in County Durham.
"It was completely out of character for Hobo to attack, he was such a loving family dog. He was my first baby," she said.
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She recounted the horrifying details of the attack which left her with scars and 'no feeling' in her top lip.
"I was bending down to smell Hobo and I think I must have been too close an he freaked out and snapped at me," Emma explained.
"It happened so quickly. He bit through my lip and severed the nerves so I couldn't even feel it and I had surgery on it the next day.
"I still have no feeling in my top lip but luckily the scars are fading."
The mum-of-one couldn't risk her once 'loveable' and 'affectionate' dog attacking again, specially with an 18-month-old son. Knowing that social services would have prosecuted for child neglect, Emma felt the only option was to have the dog put down.
Emma said she's still struggling with the loss of her four-legged baby and said people had blamed her and her family as the reason why Hobo attacked.
"I'm still struggling to get over losing our family pet. It's now [a] crime if you're a victim of a dog attack, but because we own [the] dog who attacked me I was also the suspect so I'm down as the suspect and the victim," she said.
"If we didn’t agree to get him put down we would have been subject to prosecution for child neglect for allowing a dog who bit human in the house with child.
"It was all very stressful and people were blaming us on how we brought up the dog, and were being blamed for raising the dog in an abusive household but my dog was my baby."
The mourning dog owner said Hobo was bitten on the nose by a French bulldog when he was younger and he didn't like things getting too close to him ever since. He was also adopted during lockdown and Emma said he didn't have much social interaction with other dogs as a puppy.
When Emma knew that she needed to keep Hobo away from her home, the family tried to put Hobo into a rescue home or charity. Unfortunately, because Hobo now had a history of attacking a human, nowhere would be willing to take him, resulting in him being euthanised.
"I still have dreams my dog is alive, and as loving as he was, if there was anything I could have done to save him I would have but there was no way around it," Emma shared. "There was nothing I could have done and so I did right thing. I would have never forgiven myself if it happened to my son."