Article 1- Dog's bite worse than it's bark. Final draft

Dave McGuire, 48 year old, father of two was doing his usual rounds in Portishead on the 6th of November, when he was viciously attacked by a Rottweiler, leaving him badly injured.
Despite the cliché of postmen with dogs, McGuire, a hard working local postman for 15 years, had never encountered any difficult situations, until last week. “I’ve always been told of other posties’ stories, how they were attacked, by dogs amongst other things, so I’d always been aware of the dangers”. He did not think that the day would come when it would happen to him.
Dave became increasingly more aware of the increase in dogs on his round, until the day a dog attacked him. “As I was coming up the drive, I noticed that the owners were loading the car with things from inside the house, leaving the house door open”. It wasn’t until he heard the dogs aggressive barks, addressed in his direction that he realised the dog was coming at him. “He just started charging at me, I was terrified”. Despite the owners realising what was happening, the dog had ripped its way through Dave’s trousers, and fighting its way through Dave’s thigh, meaning he would have to have surgery.
“I don’t think ill ever forget this experience”. Despite receiving major injuries, he refused to seek medical assistance, showing that he really is a loyal postman. “I went straight back to work after the incidence, doing my rounds with ripped trousers, people stopping me, asking if I’m alright”.
McGuire’s laughs disguise the trauma he must feel, it is most definitely a day he will not forget, leaving him with his own story to tell to other postman.
This wasn’t his first incident with this dog though, “I can remember coming up to the door and hearing scratching. At that point I told my self to quickly post the letters and go. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough”. McGuire met the predator’s teeth through the letter box. He received no serious injuries this time round, but the incident shock him up, making him nervous for the first time in his career.
Dave took measures to avoid the dog and made sure that he wouldn’t have another encounter with the dog. “I would make sure my hand would never fully go into the letter box, leaving the letters slightly outside”.
To the public’s dismay and concern, the dog was not put down as it was seen out of character. The Rottweiler was put into isolation where it under went tests, and later decided that the dog shows no signs of attacking in the near future. Local people were outraged by this decision, saying that once a dog bites, it is only the start, and that more incidences’ such as McGuire’s will occur.
It is evident that calls for stricter laws on dangerous dogs should be reinforced.



Before reaching my final draft, I had to look at other newspapers to understand the tone and the order of the story as I was not doing this successfully. After spending awhile doing further research and changing the order of the story, this is my finishing product.