Fenland mum issues warning over retractable dog leads after son suffers neck injury

A March mum is urging dog owners to be aware of the dangers of retractable dog leads following an incident involving her son.

Ten-year-old Franki Brown suffered rope like burns to his neck after being caught by one of the leads as he cycled through the town’s West End Park.

His mum Hayley Massey, a care worker, explained: “It was Wednesday night and he was on his way home after youth club at YPM.

“He was cycling along the footpath/cycleway when he noticed a man walking his dog. The man was one side of the path and the dog the other. The man had the dog on a retractable dog lead and saw Franki coming. He attempted to lift the lead up over Franki’s head, but instead caught him around the neck.

“Fortunately Franki managed to brake and so didn’t come off his bike otherwise it could have been so much worse. As it was he suffered nasty rope like burn marks to his neck and his neck hurt. The man was very apologetic and stayed with Franki for as long as he could before leaving him in the care of a mother and daughter.

“Franki’s dad Kevin raced up to the park to see what had happened and we ended up taking him to Peterborough City Hospital to get him checked out because he was complaining his neck hurt.

“The doctor said Franki was very lucky as it could have been so much worse, but fortunately there was no serious damage caused and Franki is healing well.”

However, Hayley posted about the incident on Facebook to make dog walkers aware of the dangers of the retractable leads that allow dogs to have run without being let off the lead.

She said: “It turns out what happened is quite common. There was one woman who commented on my post about her child suffering rope burns around their legs after getting tangled up in one of the leads. Another mum said the same thing had happened to their child as happened to Franki.

“I think people need to be aware of what can happen and perhaps restrict the use of the retractable part of the lead to the grassy area of the park where there is plenty of space for the dog to run without getting close to the pathways, that way incidents like this could be avoided.”