A man said he was attacked by a male pocket bully while walking his dog in Warwick on Friday afternoon.

“That dog, he wanted to kill us,” said Steve Thomson, speaking yesterday.

He and his dog were bitten, he said, leaving both with multiple puncture wounds.

“I could see it in his eyes when he lunged at us. His eyes were wide open and it was just the most vicious look,” he said.

Thor, Mr Thomson’s dog, is a ten-year-old golden retriever that weighs about 80lb. The incident occurred while they were walking in Southlands National Park shortly after 4pm.

“I saw this dog leap out of the back of car and just start hightailing it towards Thor and I.

“I’m a dog person. This dog was dead focused on me and hightailing it straight towards us and I knew it was not going to go well,” said Mr Thomson.

“He was a massive dog. I’m thinking he was around 120lb, and my dog is probably 80lb. I released the leash so he could protect himself and this dog just leapt through the air and hit both of us, knocked us both to the ground and sunk his teeth into my leg.

“That’s was the initial thing. He went for me. We were both on the ground and he was on top of us. My dog was going crazy, biting and lashing out at him.”

According to Mr Thomson, a woman was running after her dog and became involved in the altercation in an attempt to separate both animals.

“Eventually, she gave me her name and I took a picture of her licence plate. She was pretty apprehensive about me doing it,” said Mr Thomson.

“She didn’t want me to take a picture of her licence plate. I went over and tied my dog to a tree. I was a little worried because the windows of her car were open and the dog could have jumped out,” said Mr Thomson.

He called 911 and three officers attended and took details of the incident.

Mr Thomson said he sustained five puncture wounds in his thigh. No stitches were required. Thor had about 10 or 11 puncture wounds in his leg but did not require stitches, either.

“They recommended that I get a tetanus shot and gave me an antibiotic. They recommended an antibiotic for my dog and they gave him painkillers,” said Mr Thomson.

Mr Thomson is the former chairman of Bermuda Press (Holdings) Ltd, the parent company of The Royal Gazette.

The owner of the dog confirmed that an incident occurred and described her version of events.

“Basically, I went to Southlands to eat my lunch with my beautiful therapy dog. That’s what he is, a beautiful therapy dog. I opened up the hatchback jeep and he normally doesn’t jump out. I took him out to use a bathroom. I lifted him back and proceeded to give him water,” said the dog owner, who requested anonymity.

“Just as I was about to close door, I saw this look in his eyes, this protective look, and he took off. I turned around and I saw the dog. I ran off immediately and saw the gentleman had fallen back.

My dog “listened to my command and we walked back to the car. He was profusely bleeding from the mouth, my dog” .

The owner, who said her dog weighs about 70lb, went back to check on Mr Thomson and exchanged details.

“He has never done anything like this. He belongs to a play group. He is part of the bully community. He is not a pitbull.”

The owner of the pocket bully also said she had spoken to the dog warden about this situation.

One of Mr Thomson’s concerns is how the police handled the situation, especially given that a dog attacked a person.

“That is a dangerous dog. And there is a dangerous dog act presumably in Bermuda, and I would have thought the police would have gone out, grabbed the dog, quarantined it to protect the public,” said Mr Thomson.

Mr Thomson is a dog lover and does not want this dog euthanised, but he wants to ensure no one else gets attacked.

“Maybe the answer is that they must be legally muzzled when they go out in public. They can run at you, but it’s not going to hurt you.”