A BANGOR woman’s holiday has been ruined after learning while on a break in Spain that her beloved dog had been mauled to death by two dogs back home.
When Julie Robertson landed in Spain on Thursday she was told by her son that her pet Llasa Apso, called Zara, had been killed after being mauled by what have been described as two Staffies.
The pair of killer dogs had broken through the woman’s sturdy fence to gain access to her little dog which was out in the garden of her Maryville Road house, where it was being looked after by Mrs Robertson’s son Lewis.
But despite her heartbreak, the grandmother is counting her blessings that her two year-old grandson Jenson, who she childminds, had not been in the garden when the attack took place
Mrs Robertson recalled how she had just landed in Spain with her husband Martin when they received the awful news.
“I turned on my phone and had a load of missed calls and a message to call Lewis
“Those dogs literally tore off four panels of the fence that my husband has to take a claw hammer to remove.
“Thanks goodness that Jenson wasn’t in the garden at the time as I dread to think what those dogs would have done.
“People have to be warned – these dogs could have a taste for it now after what’s happened,” she said in a telephone interview from Spain.
Lewis Robertson (30) explained he had just let Zara into the back garden when disaster soon struck.
“Moments passed before I heard light barking from my dog who seemed to be barking at another dog in the neighbour’s garden. Zara, being a very small dog, is a yapper with other dogs but anywhere outside the comforts of her home she is extremely timid.”
He believed the dog was playing but called her name anyway, though she didn’t come in as she usually does
“Moments later I heard growling from the other dogs and yelping from Zara. I immediately bounced up, ran outside to see two Staffy-like breed dogs with both sets of teeth wrapped round Zara’s neck, on the other side of our garden,” he said.
He said he screamed and kicked at one of the dogs and they ran back through the hole they’d made in the fence.
“I turned my back for a few moments to attend to Zara, who at this point was seizing up, gasping for air. As I tried to lift her up the dogs came back in again, only this time I began to fight them back and boarded up the fence.”
When he turned around again Zara had died.
Lewis echoed his mother’s thoughts that the situation could have been worse.
“As heartbreaking as this death is, I was also due to have my two year-old nephew staying with me, and this could have been so much worse than our family pet.
Lewis said the incident was a ‘major reflection on the owners of these dogs and I believe they must be held accountable’.
Mrs Robertson agreed, stating: ‘If it had been a child this news would be all over but because it’s a dog, it’s not’.
“I want some justice for my dog and to focus on the unreliability of these dogs, any dogs for that matter. If my dog attacked anyone I’d have it put down because I’d never trust it again.”
She said the dogs in question ‘are unpredictable and should be treated accordingly’.
Mrs Robertson said she has spent the first four days of her holiday crying.
“I’m so angry, sad and in shock; it’s unbelievable. I said goodbye to her yesterday morning and she was dead by 3pm.”
Ards and North Down Council said an investigation has been launched.
“Council officers are at an early stage of investigation,” said a spokesman. “As this incident is subject to an ongoing investigation, council is unable to comment further at this time.”
