Dog's eye torn from its socket in savage Staffy street attack

A PET dog had his eye torn from its socket in a brutal attack by a Staffordshire bull terrier.

Vets say it is too early to tell whether six-year-old Noodles' sight can ever be restored or if his eye will have to be removed, despite a desperate attempt to save it.

The attack happened outside his owners' front door in Clermiston at about 4:20pm on Saturday as they were taking shopping in from their car.

Noodles, a Lhasa Apso, was waiting on the pavement when the Staffordshire bull terrier ran over the road and jumped on him, leaving him covered in blood, with the horrific eye injury.

Denise Preston, 43, from Alan Breck Gardens, said: "If this is what can happen to a dog in a matter of seconds, think of what could happen to a child.

"I know this has nothing to do with the breed but I cannot stress enough that people should keep their dogs on leads."

Mrs Preston ran out of the house to discover her husband wrestling the dog off Noodles who was rushed to an emergency vet.

She said: "They tried to push the eye back in using a local anaesthetic but he needed an operation that night. They are now saying that the prognosis for him is good but not for his eye. The wound is very swollen, so it is a case of waiting to see what will happen over the coming days."

Noodles is now under strict assessment by the vet, who believes it may take ten days to determine what will happen to his eye.

The dog is a much-loved family pet who already suffers from arthritis and is described as a "softie" by his owners.

Mrs Preston said: "There isn't a bad bone in him – he's a real part of the family. The Staffy was easily twice as big as my dog, if not more. He could easily have died.

"I'm still shaking, I'm so upset and angry at what happened. This dog should have been on a lead. There are children who play in this street and it's very worrying."

The incident follows a number of attacks by dogs across the city, including one last October when two jumped on a man and his Scottie while they were walking in Liberton Gardens.

The 50-year-old was knocked to the ground and his dog was badly injured, sparking fresh calls for a crackdown on owners who let their pets run wild.

• A police spokeswoman said a 29-year-old man had been charged in connection with an alleged incident in Alan Breck Gardens on Saturday.