Poole Pirates boss in hospital after dog attack

The speedway team manager has been out of action since Wednesday morning’s horrific incident as he walked on Dullar Lane near his Sturminster Marshall home.

The 56-year-old was left with serious bite wounds on both hands from the Labrador.

He has already undergone one operation under general anaesthetic to clean up the area and was expecting to go into surgery to stitch up the injuries yesterday.

He told the Echo: “It went for me and got my thumb on my right hand – I punched it with the other hand and it got hold of it and ripped all the webbing between the fingers. It was very painful and scary at the time – you read about people getting attacked by dogs in the papers and I can empathise even more now. It was literally seconds but it’s done a bit of damage.

“It’s all bandaged up now – but it didn’t look very nice when it first happened.”

Mr Middleditch made his way home following the incident and the paramedics were called.

He is now undergoing treatment in Poole Hospital where he said “they are looking after me very well.”

He added: “I think it’s going to be a few weeks of recovery, but hopefully there won’t be any lasting damage. I will need physio afterwards to make sure it doesn’t tighten up and I keep the movement.”

He posted a photo of his injuries on Twitter where he has been receiving messages of support. The incident has not been reported to police at this time.