Owner's heartbreak as puppy killed in suspected XL Bully attack in West Bromwich

Claire Cooper, a senior nurse at Walsall Manor Hospital, was walking her new puppy, Rodney, and her other springer spaniel, Purdey, along James Watt Street in West Bromwich on Wednesday.

At around 12.05pm, two large dogs came bounding towards her. As she tried to bend down to pick up Rodney, who she'd only had for two weeks, the two dogs knocked her to the ground.

When she looked up, she saw Purdey was being chased by one dog while Rodney was being carried in the other dog's mouth.

The 45-year-old from Hill Top told the Express & Star: "When I looked up I could see Purdey was being chased and one of the dogs was biting her back, but didn't manage to get her.

"Then I noticed the other dog, the XL Bully, had got Rodney in his mouth and was throwing him around like a ragdoll.

"I normally walk my dogs on the other side of the street when these dogs are out, but I didn't see that the garage door was open."

The two dogs were then called back to the house by their owner's father, saving Purdey from being seriously attacked. Sadly, Rodney had already been critically injured.

Claire found her puppy lying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head, but still alive.

The owner's father took Claire, Rodney, and Purdey to the vets, where the vets gave Claire the tragic news.

She said: "They X-rayed him and the vet told me that his skull had been crushed. They said there was no chance of survival.

"The vets were brilliant, they brought Rodney out to Purdey so she could see him, to help her process him not being there anymore."

Claire and her family are now worried about the impact Rodney's death will have on Purdey, who was already a nervous dog and stopped eating when the family's other dog, Tolley, died a few months ago.

Claire said: "She was a timid dog anyway, scared of everybody and everything. She was a rescue dog and she'd been abused before we had her.

"When Tolley died, she stopped eating and became scared of the dark, so we got Rodney to keep her company and she was struggling being on her own.

"She was scared of people, but when she saw people starting to fuss Rodney, she started to get better with people. But she's been really quiet since Rodney died."

Claire says the owner's father told her that the dog who fatally attacked Rodney was an XL Bully, a breed which has hit the headlines over the last months due to a spate of attacks.

After 52-year-old Ian Price was killed by two XL Bully dogs in Stonnall last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the breed would be banned before the end of the year.

Claire said: "I do agree with them banning the breed. The Government's got to do something."

Addressing the attack, a spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "We were called just before 3pm on October 18 by a woman reporting that a dog, thought to be an XL Bully, had attacked her two dogs and knocked her to the ground in James Watt Street, West Bromwich.

"Enquiries are at an early stage and anyone with information has been asked to get in touch, quoting log 2784 of October 18."