'Dog whisperer' rottweiller attacked before, says witness

More claims have been made against self-styled "dog whisperer" James Lech, whose rottweiler attacked a little girl at a shopping mall last week.

Lynn Hewitt, a Johannesburg dog trainer, said this week she had seen Lech's rottweiler launch itself at a pram with a baby in it at the Organic Fair in Johannesburg last year.

"The dog flew out at the pram," Hewitt told the Sunday Times.

But Lech described the claim as"preposterous", saying: "I don't know of such an incident."

Lech confirmed he was at the show but said the rottweiler was not the same dog that attacked four-year-old Sadie Kukkuk in Hyde Park shopping centre last week.

He claimed this dog was a "service dog" he needed as he had a "private" medical condition . He said he had been granted the right to have a service dog by the Cape Town Magistrate's Court this year .

Dog experts polled by the Sunday Times said most service dogs were labradors, golden retrievers and sometimes collies. The rottweiler was known to be a "far more aggressive breed".

Last week Lech said young Sadie Kukkuk had stood on his rottweiler which was why it attacked her. Video footage from the centre refutes this. When told this he said: "I saw it with (peripheral) vision."

On his website Lech describes himself as a "dog whisperer" and "shaman" and says he helps "with cases at the South African Guide Dog Association".

But Malcolm Driver, executive director of the South African Guide Dogs Association for the Blind, said Lech had visited the association once , asked to be a consultant - which was declined - and gave a presentation.

"That was all he did. That's his interpretation of that visit," said Driver.

Driver said the conditions that required a service dog included visual impairment, claustrophobic and other psychological issues.