6:50am Wednesday 6th May 2009
Exclusive By Julia Kennard
A canine star of a West End show has been mauled in an unprovoked attack by two Staffordshire bull terriers.
Staffordshire dog Bodger who plays Bullseye in Oliver! was jumped on by the snarling pair as he walked with owner Heather Diggins, of Sutton, near St Helier Hospital.
Mrs Diggins, 49, a mother-of-six, said the pair clamped their jaws around her pet’s shook him violently and were only scared off when a man jumped from his car and kicked them away.
She said: “My other two dogs started screeching and I was crying for help and trying to push them off with my foot.
“They were extrememely aggressive, but luckily Bodger is a pleasant dog and did not retaliate at any time.
“It could have been a lot worse, I fear what could have happened if I was walking with my children.”
Bodger is currently acts in Oliver! opposite former Mr Bean star, Rowan Atkinson, who plays Fagan, and former Dickens' Bleak House actor Burn Gorman who acts as bruiser Bill Sykes.
Luckily the three-year-old, who has his own dressing room for the show and was picked for the post after auditioning for an advert, did not need any stitches and only received minor puncture wounds.
But Mrs Diggins, who came forward after reading a story in this paper about the savage attack on a four-year-old girl by a Staffordshire, said the incident highlighted the need for owners to have greater responsibility for their pet’s behaviour.
Mrs Diggins, who said she has informally trained the breed for about 20 years, said they were misunderstood and used as terror status symbols for the wrong reasons.
She said: “The thing that angers me is that these are lovely dogs but in the wrong hands they are like a loaded gun, it’s such a shame.
“This pair had no collars on and no ID, they were left to roam in the garden with an unsecured gate, it’s very irresponsible.
“These dogs can be trained to be obedient and if they are attended to properly incidents like this would not happen.”
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