Jack, Britain’s oldest dog, killed in savage terrier attack

The Yorkshire Terrier named Jack was no ordinary pooch. He was old — so old, in fact, he was thought to be the oldest of all the dogs in Great Britain.

When Jack turned 26 in December 2015, the dog had lived a decade beyond the average Yorkshire terrier. He became something of a British animal celebrity. If you convert dog years to human years, as the U.K. media did when celebrating the dog’s jubilee, Jack was the equivalent of 117 people years old.

Jack did not live to such a ripe age without acquiring some quirks. He was fussy, preferring a diet of sirloin steak or corned beef to kibble. He had arthritis and was occasionally incontinent, once urinating on his owner after the dog curled up to sleep on the bed. That was small price to pay, perhaps, for 16 years with what his owners, Ray and Mary Bunn, called a smart and funny animal.

“He was brilliant, very intelligent. If he wanted his tea he would tell you, if he wanted taking out he would tell you,” Ray Bunn told the Daily Record, “He was a marvelous dog. He was a character, everybody loved him.”

Jack’s life was bookended by tragedy and violence.

More than a decade ago, Bunn’s daughter’s next-door neighbor spotted two people tying Jack to a tree and then leaving the dog to his fate. The neighbor decided to rescue the abandoned pooch, but was unable to keep it. So the Bunn family stepped in.

Despite Jack’s unusual history and the encroaching ailments of a very long life — epileptic seizures, back problems — his owners hoped he would pass in his sleep, an ordinary way to go, drifting off after dreams of rabbit chases and favorite smells.

It was not to be.

On Monday, Ray Bunn and Jack’s morning routine began as it normally did. Around 9 a.m., Bunn had driven to the marina in Hartlepool, a town on England’s eastern seaboard, with a friend. As Bunn started to slip on Jack’s leash, another dog ran up to the car. The black Lakeland terrier bore down on Jack like a squall upon a sailboat.

The attack was swift and took Bunn too by surprise. The strange dog tore into Jack’s side. “It started to sink its teeth into the dog and I began punching it in the face but it wouldn’t let go,” Bunn said to the Independent. The tussle lasted for three minutes, Bunn told the Times of London, until his blows forced the Lakeland terrier away. Jack was left in a pool of his own blood.

On the way to the veterinarian, Jack succumbed to his wounds. Bunn located the terrier’s owner and reported the incident to the police, according to the Echo.