A family says they are traumatized after their eight-week-old puppy was killed and their daughter wounded, in an apparent dog attack at a North York park.

Lana Novikova, her boyfriend, and her 12-year-old daughter were walking the puppy and their five-year-old cockapoo named Cooper in Serena Gundy Park Wednesday evening when they say the attack happened. Cooper was off-leash and went to say hello to a large white dog in a clearing. The owners, a man and a woman, were sitting in the grass.

Novikova told CTV News Toronto that the white dog then started to lash out at Cooper.

“I hovered over Cooper to protect him. I checked to make sure he was okay and checked for blood. I was screaming,” Novikova said.

Novikova said she was pushing the dog away and kept asking the owners to put a leash on their dog, but they didn’t. Her boyfriend remembers the man holding a large metal pronged leash in his hand.

As Novikova was protecting Cooper, the white dog allegedly turned and went after the puppy, who was being held by her daughter.

“All I remember is that I had it, and then I didn’t, and then she was on the ground,” Novikova’s daughter said. “It just looked like a chew toy to the dog that was shaking it.”

Novikova’s boyfriend managed to grab the puppy and hold it away from the dog.

“I gave mouth-to-mouth (to) the puppy and blood came out of her nose,” Novikova said. That’s when she looked up and saw that her daughter was bleeding.

“I was just sitting and screaming on top of my lungs,” she said. “(The dog) was circling around us like a predator and my daughter was bleeding.”

Eventually, a neighbor heard her screams and called the police. The family said the owners of the white dog started to walk away and the dog followed.

Novikoba’s daughter suffered a deep gash to her left arm and needed five stitches. If neither police nor animal services are able to get a hold of the owners in the next 24 hours, she will need to get a rabies shot.

The family decided to post a photo of the owners and their dog on Facebook. They described the incident and warned those who frequent the park to “keep your dogs close if you are going on night walks around this area/park.”

The family was surprised to find other dog owners who had similar stories to tell.

Rozeena Khote believes her one-year-old Samoyed was attacked by the same dog last week at Sunnybrook Dog Park, about a kilometer away. She said her dog was also off-leash and approached the white dog and their owners, who were sitting on a bench. The dog allegedly lunged at the Samoyed’s back leg.

“My dog cried out. I was a few feet away from the bench and I watched in horror as my dog was being attacked by this dog,” Khote said.

Khote said the owners claimed her dog had attacked them first. They brought their dog back towards her and she said it attacked her dog a second time.

“I screamed at this woman to get her dog off of my dog – she just stood there. She didn’t do anything,” Khote said.

She says her dog is okay now, but he is a lot more anxious and nervous.

“I think he is traumatized. I’m afraid to take him to a dog park because I’m not sure how he will react now.”

Both Khote and Novikoba blame the owners for the incidents, not the dog, and hope that appropriate action is taken.

“A dog is the mirror of their masters,” Novikoba said. “You train the dog well and the dog will never do that.”