Elderly man attacked by roaming dog in Hastings street

An 86-year-old Hastings man has endured hours of surgery after being attacked by a dog on a street and passing out from blood loss.

John Berkhan recalled going for his usual walk on Cunningham Cres last Monday morning - initially not thinking anything of a nearby pooch despite earlier being attacked by a dog on the same street.

"[I was] going along not far from where I live, this dog was next to me on the footpath. We looked at each other, no problem there, but I carried on walking and the next thing I know he bit me from behind," he said.

"[The wound] started to bleed like mad so I walked, I had about a hundred yards to walk back to where I live. I thought I'd go back, get my car and drive back to the outpatients."

After managing to phone 111, Berkhan said he passed out in his flat because of blood loss after the dog tore at his left leg.

"When I nearly got home I realised it was a lot worse than what I had thought. By the time [the ambulance] got here I had fainted," Berkhan said.

A nearby resident followed a trail of blood left after the attack, and found Berkhan unresponsive on the floor of his home.

The offending dog is yet to be found but Hastings District Council said an investigation is ongoing.

Dog attack victim John Berkhan, recovering at home in Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland

A council spokesperson said animal control had received four complaints about roaming dogs in Cunningham Cres this year.

Three dogs were caught and impounded, the spokesperson said.

They said the council did not consider roaming dogs or negligent owners to be a problem for the area given the number of complaints received.

Berkhan, meanwhile, has had "hours of surgery already".

"I'd like people to take more care of their dogs when out walking them. This one was running loose," he said.

His daughter, Vicki, said Berkhan was very fit and active before the attack, having now been left "immobile".

"It's a nightmare to get a call from the police about their family member like this. I went into shock. I was traumatised. I had to hold myself together to get to the hospital to see him," she said.

Vicki Berkhan was also worried this could happen again and that somebody may die.

"He's alive and that's the key thing, but his leg is still swollen. He's a trooper.

"He's been discharged now with a battery-powered vacuum pressure dressing that he has to carry around with him," she said.

This was the second time he was attacked by a dog on the same street, which Vicki Berkhan said was the same breed as that responsible for the previous incident.

Berkhan said roaming dogs and negligent owners have been a consistent problem on Cunningham Cres.

She said parents of children at the nearby Mayfair kindergarten were worried for their safety.

"They're terrified their children are going to be attacked when being picked up after school," Vicki Berkhan said.