Off-The-Leash Mutt Attacks Dogs In Greenpoint Park

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — The aggressive black mutt who has savagely attacked several dogs in Transmitter Park belongs to a man who refuses to leash his dangerous pet, according to Greenpoint residents. Locals have taken to social media to alert fellow dog owners, but failed to convince the dog’s owner that he should compensate his dog’s victims or take preventative action of any kind.

Monk, a 10-year-old Shar Pei, needed three surgeries after an aggressive black mutt tore into his neck, side, haunch and leg in Transmitter Park on Oct. 24, around 8:30 a.m., his owners told Patch.

“She was going right for the jugular,” said Greg Stevens, 40. “The dog just attacked, completely unprovoked.”

“We’ve been shocked this whole time,” added his fiancee Lauren Bender, 38. “We don’t know what to do.”

Monk was just about to leave the park with Mateo, 45 — a friend of the couple who declined to give his last name — when the shaggy black dog came bounding toward Monk and dug her teeth into the grey Shar Pei’s neck.

“It happened so quickly,” said Matteo. “There was a frenzy.”

Mateo and the black dog’s walker — whom Mateo described as a man with disheveled hair and a British accent — pulled the two dogs apart, but not before Monk suffered extreme injuries to his throat and down his right side.

The extent of Monk’s injuries shocked even the staff at Long Island City Veterinary Center, where Monk underwent hours of surgery to clean and drain multiple bite marks, his owners said.

“They couldn’t make heads or tails of it,” said Stevens. “His leg was like hamburger meat.”

“The vet kept saying what you never want to hear a vet say; ‘It’s worse than we thought.’”

Monk’s owners have since gone on the lookout for the aggressive dog’s owner, canvassing the park and talking to fellow dog owners — several of whom reported less severe attacks from the same dog — and starting a Facebook group where several residents noted a black dog had been let off its leash and caused trouble.

“I think I saw this same dog or it’s doppelgänger attack a dog,” wrote a commenter on Facebook. “The dog darted out of nowhere and attacked a huge boxer dog.”

“If it’s the same dog, terrifying that this keeps happening.”

“My dog was attacked many times and I had to stop going,” added another poster.

But even Bender was unprepared for what happened on Nov. 4, when she returned to Transmitter Park and a black dog came running toward Monk.

“I started screaming and this dog came after us again,” Bender said. She dove in front of her injured dog and somehow managed to shove the aggressive mutt away.

Bender then approached the dog’s owner and, when she heard his British accent, became convinced his dog was responsible for Monk’s injuries, she said.

The man said he knew nothing about this incident at first, but later admitted his brother had been taking his dog out for walks.

Bender convinced the man to give her a telephone number, but he did not promise to prevent his dog from making future attacks and has not responded to their calls, she said.

Bender and Stevens — who have paid thousands of dollars for Monk’s three surgeries — are not looking to reimbursed financially. The couple just want the dog kept on a leash and can’t understand why the owner won’t comply.

“It’s even scarier knowing he won’t even do that,” said Bender. “Our biggest goal is to not feel like it could happen again.”

Bender and Stevens have filed a police report and keep trying to reach out to the man they believe owns the dog, but have yet to hear back, they said.

Monk is on the mend but he remains “a little gun shy and a little bit scared” when going out for a walk, Stevens said.

Bender noted the couple moved their bed to the floor so that, “When he wakes up, we’re here for him.”

Patch tried to reach out to the dog’s owner on social media and on the telephone, but received no reply.

Photos courtesy of Lauren Bender and Greg Stevens