Dogsey

A LISBELLAW woman has spoken of the terrifying moment a Rottweiler leapt at her and bit a chunk of flesh off her arm leaving her permanently scarred.

Iris Breen was walking ‘Rocko’ and ‘Scruffles’ along the Farnamullan Road when two other dogs, one of which was a Rottweiler, ran towards her. Within seconds, they took the mother-of-one’s two dogs by the scruffs of their necks and ran with them in their mouths.

“I spied two dogs jumping the wall and head for us. The Rottweiler and what I think was a pup of some description and looked similar ran towards us and I turned around to head back to Lisbellaw. They grabbed my two dogs and ran down the road with them,” she told The Impartial Reporter.

Mrs. Breen watched in agony as ‘Rocko’, a Puggle which is a cross between a Pug and a Beagle, and ‘Scruffles’, a cross between Scitsu (sic) and Lhasa Apso, were taken from her.

“I tore after them but was making no progress – they were flying. The pup dog threw my wee ‘Scruffles’ into the air. I ran down and retrieved him and at that stage the other dog disappeared completely. ‘Rocko’ put up a good fight against the Rottweiler, and was fending him off without injury. I was hoping and praying that somebody would come and help us but it seemed like an eternity. It was terribly scary and frightening,” she recalled.

Fortunately help was at hand when a woman from Carrybridge drove by in a 4x4 and positioned her jeep at an angle to block the path of the Rottweiler. As Mrs. Breen picked her two dogs up, the Rottweiler was getting more and more aggressive, as she was about to find out.

“He was growling and barking and as a result my two started going hysterical, and were squealing. I had ‘Scruffles’ in my arms at that stage and the Rottweiler ran back towards me trying to get him. He leapt up, missed him and took a fist full of flesh from my arm, right down to the bone. I was standing up straight and had ‘Scruffles’ high up and he was still able to bite me,” she said.

A policeman who lives nearby rushed out of his house and rescued Mrs. Breen and her two dogs. She was attended to by paramedics and taken to South West Acute Hospital and needed 10 stitches to repair the damage to her arm.

“My number one priority was to try and save the two dogs and I was working on adrenaline and subsequently shock because I didn’t realise I had been so badly injured. I am just grateful that I am OK and that my two dogs are alive. The tissue will rebuild and I will be left with a scar, how big or deep I do not know,” she said, adding: “I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped me”.

“I am a responsible dog owner and would appeal to people that if you must keep these type of dangerous dogs that they are kept in a secure environment,” she said.

Fermanagh District Council says the Rottweiler will be destroyed today (Thursday) following the attack.