Just came across this article on BBC news site, i really cannot believe how people can be so vile. I doubt they will ever be caught.
I can only imagine how the poor 15 year old girl must feel, seeing her new pet killed infront of her. SHOCKING!

Puppy is kicked to death in park
A 10-week-old puppy was kicked to death when it ran up to a group of people in a Cambridgeshire park in what the RSPCA called a "sickening" attack.

The Jack Russell was being walked by its owner, a 15-year-old girl, in Priory Park, St Neots, on Monday.

The puppy ran over to three people in a wooded area of the park, and one of them kicked it in the head. It died almost instantly.

An RSPCA spokeswoman called the attack "absolutely shocking and sickening".

A member of the public tried to resuscitate the puppy but it died from a fractured skull.

Upset family

The offenders, who ran off, wore hooded tops.

RSPCA inspector Cherry Evans said: "This is an absolutely shocking and sickening incident which caused a great deal of pain to this small puppy, and left her owners devastated.

"It is difficult to understand how anyone could be so deliberately cruel and it is vital that anyone with information comes forward."

Pc Amanda Foreman, of Cambridgeshire police, said: "This has upset an entire family who are finding it hard to understand how someone can do this to a puppy.

"If anyone saw what happened, or knows something about this, they should get in touch."

A man, who wishes to remain anonymous, has offered a £200 reward for information which leads to the successful arrest and conviction of the offender.

I know it is no excuse, but this sounds like it was a solitary kick, could be the perpetrator was scared of dogs, or perhaps the pup had latched onto a trouser leg and had been kicked off, and it's injuries were incidental (from impact with the ground or tree etc) and not deliberate.

Very sad.

i hope they catch the sick sob's  makes me so mad i could scream their are some evil nasty people out their

I can't imagine how I would feel if someone had done this to a dog of mine.

It upsets me to hear of it happening to people I don't know.

Thats so sad, poor little thing!
I just thought of my pup just 13 weeks old and he runs up to kids in the park, he hears kids voices and gets all excited, he loves them, I'd be heart broken if the same happened to him! Think i'll check out who's (person instead of dog) there before i let him off!

Although this is terrible my first thought was what is a 10 week old pup doing out?

And off the lead!

Quite disgusting thing to do :-( but how is this any different to the border that was killed by being hit over the head with a hoe and R***A said they wouldnt prosecute as the dog didnt suffer, it appears they take a different view when its a cute puppy.

poor child.
the puppy at least probably wouldn't have known what hit it.  the young owner I cannot imagine what state she is in.

> Although this is terrible my first thought was what is a 10 week old pup doing out?

It never ceases to amaze me how many people there are that think second jab done means big walk in the park!! Little legs running far more than they should at such a young age.

As Brainless pointed out, young pup running up to greet joe public may come across one that is afraid of dogs and they react by kicking out :(
It doesn't take much of a kick to damage a small pup.

If this is how it happened then although sad for the owners they were irresponsible, and ultimately responsible.

If it were a malicious kick for no apparent reason then it's gross and charges should follow, but even so the owner should have thought twice before letting such a young one run loose.

So all in all it's the owners fault, and the pup bore the brunt of their ignorance.

>So all in all it's the owners fault, and the pup bore the brunt of their ignorance.

thats a bit harsh

i feel its abit harsh too :( ....lets remember it was a young girl walking her pup ,not an adult , and to die this way is sickening that poor pup could of been in pain even if it was for a few mins :( ,yobs are just that ,they dont care what pain thay course ,even a 5year old would be able to tell a pup from a adult dog ....imo this is just evil !!!

> thats a bit harsh

So it's harsh, but would you walk a 10 week old loose in a populated area? I wouldn't.

pinky this is a 15year old and mybe her 1st ever dog ...

> ....lets remember it was a young girl walking her pup ,not an adult

This is what I don't get with people, i.e. young girl walks pup yobs attack pup dies, yobs fault.

Who was responsible for the young girl and therefore the pup, the adults, the parents, some body bought that pup, an adult no doubt so the responsibility lies with them.

I'm not defending the yobs they're just low life but the pup was put at risk by adults who didn't think out of the box.

> pinky this is a 15year old and mybe her 1st ever dog ...

and what guidance did she have for walking this first ever dog?

no, but maybe I would a 12 week old - puppies do aproach people, even at 6 years old one of mine sometimes decides to go up to greet a random stranger like he has known them all his life !!  No it isnt ideal but dogs are dogs.  One of mine as a pup was being petted by a little boy and he got excited and jumped up and knocked him over ..... thank god the parents didnt kick him in the head (my dog, not their son  !)

I was walking my families 3 dogs from the age of 13.  Once when I was out with just the little dog he got attacked by an Akita X - was that my fault because I was only about 15 at the time ??

I have walked a 12 week old loose, 2 infact at the same time, armed with OH and carry bags as they're small-ish breed plus 4 other dogs, but we pick our places, i.e. open fields with nobody about just to get them used to following the others, with regular pick ups to stop little legs getting tired.

By the time my young ones get to walk loose in parks etc they have had several weeks of 'training' with oldies and they follow them every where after all the older ones know the best sniffing and peeing spots :)

I know pups approach people, dogs are very social and will run to greet even the most oddball of strangers which is why I have big reserves on letting tinies loose in very public areas you never know what sort of nitwit's they're going to meet.

I still think that the parents of this poor young girl are the ones at fault as they did not advise her properly.

> was that my fault because I was only about 15 at the time ??

This is going the wrong way, I am not attacking young people walking dogs.

Your small dog being attacked by an Akita X is not the same as some thug kicking out at a 10 week old pup.

You cannot be held responsible for an Akita X

As I started the part where now everyone is being called for making a comment, the parents of the girl should be also done for allowing a pup out at such a young age.  It won't be fully vaccinated and shouldn't have been out pure and simple, especially not in a park where it could of picked up parvo etc.

It has nothing to do with a youngster not being able to control dogs etc.

>It won't be fully vaccinated and shouldn't have been out pure and simple, especially not in a park where it could of picked up parvo etc.

There are plenty of people - yes, even regular posters on this board - who assure owners that the health risk, after the second vax, is minimal and that "more dogs are put to sleep because of lack of early socialisation than because of illness".

age of puppy is irrelevent.
are people saying the puppy wouldn't have been viciously kicked had it been 3 weeks older?
as a tiny breed I doubt whether being a couple of weeks older would have made any odds to its chance of surviving such an attack.
I feel very sorry for the poor child owner who must be utterly devestated

No but I was actually surprised that nobody on here even questioned that the pup was out.

Oh and yes I am one of those who takes them out a week after the second vaccination so do have a pup off lead only a week later.

I do feel for the child and the family as I'm sure everyone else does, but the parents do have a responsibility regarding this also.  It is awful, shouldn't happen no matter what age a dog is etc. 

Did you actually read the article before you started you comments and assigment of blame?

Poor girl and poor dog.

It's interesting that the author of the article felt it necessary to say that the offenders wore hooded tops...  as if that explains everything.  You'd be hard pushed nowadays to find a group of teenage boys without at least one hoodie wearer.

I can only echo the title of this thread - sickening. A jack russel pup is obviously no threat to anyone. The other day I was walking Polo when we came across a pair of 12 week of JR's- so tiny they had to jump to sniff Polo's mouth (which he didn't mind at all). The owners were careful to keep the pups on lead until they were sure that Polo knew how act around small dogs- even a playful knock from Polo could damage a little dog like that, a kick doesn't bear thinking. RIP little pup :(

FACT: It is NOT stated whether or not the owner was a "first-time dog owner" - so let's give them the benefit of the doubt as far as ANYTHING action-wise is concerned
FACT: Nobody knows how long the walk for the puppy was - so let's not comment about them being irresponsible for letting their newly vaccinated puppy run around far too much
FACT: The offender who kicked the dog (and his mates) all ran off - what does that say for compassion or fear?
FACT: A 15 year old girl is responsible enough to be walking her own dog (whether off the lead or not) - we are not talking about a young child, we're talking about a young adult so let's not blame the innocent girl - plus how many people here (including those commenting on this thread) have had their dog run up to people and not pay a blind bit of notice to you shouting "BONZO! COME!" at the top of your voice - even top trainers can't admit that!
FACT: As someone has already said, this person would probably have kicked the dog regardless of age or size.

Unfortunately, this has turned into a blame game.  It seems some people haven't thought about putting themselves in the owner's shoes or given the benefit of the doubt.  Can you imagine your dog being killed outright - right in front of your eyes?  Because of someone else's actions?

I feel sorry for the poor family and thankful that the pup died almost instantly.

> FACT: Nobody knows how long the walk for the puppy was - so let's not comment about them being irresponsible for letting their newly vaccinated puppy run around far too much

Good point. For all we know this poor little pup had only just been placed on the ground to aid it's socialisation ('safe' area with people milling around).
I don't think it really matters how old the person was who was walking the pup & wheather the pup was off lead on not, the poor little mite didn't deserve to have his life snuffed out :( :( :( It could have easily been a pup that had been stolen & dumped or escaped, it boils down to a human being kicking a little puppy hard enough in the head to kill it - awful :( :(
I hope the girl doesn't blame herself, it's not her fault us civilised humans have to share this earth with monsters :( :( :(
Rest in peace little pup, I'm so sorry your life was made so short xxxx

> 's interesting that the author of the article felt it necessary to say that the offenders wore hooded tops...  as if that explains everything

I read it that as they are appealing for more information and this is the only description they have of the offenders so far to go on. It would be even harder to trace the offenders if they ommited the only thing they knew about them - they all wore hooded tops.

My husband was attacked whilst walking our two in the local park at 11.00am. Parks have become a place where hooligans think they can get away with anything. We have had numerous attacks on dogs by pit bull crosses and its time that the police patrolled these areas to protect both dogs and owners. This young owner was probably doing her best to socialise her pup, so as not to be a dangerous dog of the future, when her pup was attacked. We now have CCTV installed in our park so hope that things will be improved but have been told that parks are a no go area for police at night. How sick are the youth of today, that can get pleasure out of killing a dumb creature. My most heatfelt condolences goes out to the owner. A pup will approach any human thinking we are all friends at this age and many young people are the same untill being exposed to the world being a cruel place.

When my lab Annie was 12 weeks old,she was off the lead in a safe part of our local park,she ran up to a teenager waging her tail,the lad screamed at me and said if that f......dog runs up to me again i will kick its head in I had to control myself as I could not believe the cruelty that this lout would of inflicted on her,

Sheila.

Whether or not the puppy should have been out, being walked off lead by a 15 year old is entirely irrelevant to the subject:  THIS PUPPY WAS KILLED BY A KICK FROM A YOUNG THUG.  Plain and simple violence which should not have happened.

It's a sad world when a small puppy frightens a young thug so much that the thug has to kick it to death.

> We now have CCTV installed in our park so hope that things will be improved but have been told that parks are a no go area for police at night.

In the local parks close to where i live they now have CCTV, employ Security Guards and Night Patrol officers!!!  All because of unruly teenagers (not all teenagers are unruly) and local idiot dog fighting!!! What is the world coming too? 

I feel for the girl, her family and the poor puppy.  I hope the person who kicked the pup has regrets all his life and no doubt he will get his Karma...

It seems that the initial report that's got everyone into a tizzy might not be true.

I've always taken my dogs out ASAP,usually at 8 weeks old,and always off lead down at the park

I would have let my 15 year old daughter walk them,probably just around the block close to the house though,and if near the road on lead.
But no,i never thought twice about a 15 year old walking a pup.

So you wouldn't worry about what your pup would pick up at 8 weeks?  Oh well, I'd better leave it there as it seems that I'm outnumbered in my thoughts :)

As a vet has said that the puppy died os a virus, and that there was no sign of injury (what on earth was the RSPCA person seeing ?) it seems that your cautiousness is justified.

I thought it all sounded strange right from the start!  A 10 week old pup can't run that fast as for her to lose control and for it to get attacked in such a way.

Can't believe that the family aren't being prosecuted and re. the RSPCA well ! 

Umm seems my grievances were justified re. the age of it being out.

> It seems that the initial report that's got everyone into a tizzy [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/8340811.stm" rel=nofollow]might not be true[/url].

It frustrating that the initial BBC news item reported the incident as if it were fact:

"member of the public tried to resuscitate the puppy but it died from a fractured skull."

So, if the new article is the truth, somebody has blatently lied about the pup having a fractured skull as well as it being kicked in the first place. Gosh, I don't know what is more sickening, a person kicking the pup in the head, or somebody making that story up :(

A few years ago I was out walking my 14 week old BMD puppy. As I slipped him off the lead he ran over to a group of teenagers sitting at a park bench, just a few feet from me. They swore at the dog and me and then went to throw the contents of a can of beer over the puppy, when the pups mum, 2 other full size BMD'S and a Leonberger that I had at the time came racing towards me.
The dogs actually had no idea what was going on, they had just been let out of our van by my OH ( I had travelled ahead in the car with puppy in crate) and were simply saying hello. But you should have seen the look of horror on the teenagers faces.
I scooped up the pup, (not easy) glared at the offenders and walked away dogs in tow! It really was quite funny in the end.