A five year-old Pekingese dog had to be put to sleep days after an attack by a larger dog on the path at Warriston Gardens on 27 July.
The dog’s owner, Shona West, remains signed off work after the ordeal, but has taken positive steps by putting up posters in the Warriston area to try and find the dog which attacked hers – and also its owner or handler. At the time of the attack Ms West was away and her friend was walking the small Pekingese, Diggory, on the path near Warriston when a Husky type of dog went for the smaller one.
The friend who was caring for Diggory was in shock afterwards. She can barely recall some of the finer details of what happened, but did say that she was approaching one of the bridges on the Warriston Path in the middle of the afternoon when she noticed a woman with a Husky type of dog on a lead.
She was a little concerned because it was a big dog, but the larger dog’s owner or handler seemed to encourage the two dogs to be friendly.
The incident left the Pekingese with injuries which developed into sepsis, and the small dog had to be put to sleep in Shona’s arms after treatment by three sets of city vets, including the Dick Vet.
While Shona has incurred thousands of pounds in vets’ bills that expense has been covered by insurance. The heartbreak it has caused her, however, will, she said, take longer to recover from. She said: “I’m just completely lost – completely lost with without him.”
The two dogs (both on leads) were initially friendly, but then according to the friend who was walking Diggory: “Then the husky grabbed Diggory in his jaws.”
The friend said that the dog did not immediately look aggressive, but the wee animal was squealing, and a passer-by had to help wrestle Diggory out of the other dog’s mouth.
Shona has reached out to both the Dog Warden, employed by the council, and Police Scotland, but so far has not had much in the way of real help. She has few details about the Husky owner or handler who is described as a “grey-haired petite woman”, and the dog is described as a “young” husky.
It took some days after the attack for several vets to identify that Diggory had injuries which eventually led to the animal having to be put to sleep. There were initially no visible wounds or blood on the dog’s coat, but it became clear that the injuries would not allow a full recovery.
After the incident the dog was described as “cowering” and out of sorts. Diggory had stopped eating, and was eventually placed on a drip. Vets did blood tests and administered a range of medicine, but the underlying cause only became clear several days later. The dog required overnight veterinary care, and Shona explained that vets advised her that the “blood supply to his skin had stopped, and they would require to operate, but the necrosis had spread across his abdomen. The ICU nurse told me it was going to take a long time and a lot of money to save Diggory. It could have cost anything up to abut £30,000 and at one stage I didn’t really care how much it was going to cost.”
Shona added: “Now I want this woman to know that my beautiful boy is dead, and steps must be taken to identify the dog.”
She continued that she has been in contact with both the police and with the Dog Warden but has had no joy as it appears impossible to identify the woman who owned the Husky. She said: “I Googled and found out that when a dog has been attacked like this it is the council’s dog warden you need to contact – so I did.”
The role of the dog warden is principally to react to events, rather than take any inquisitive role after attacks such as this one. Usually the warden “manages stray animals, enforces animal welfare and control legislation, and promotes responsible pet ownership”. Employed by the City of Edinburgh Council, dog wardens work to “keep public spaces safe and protect animal welfare”.
Shona also contacted the police, meeting with two police officers to report the incident on 9th August, but there was some initial difficulty as Shona had not been present during the attack.
She said that having to take the decision to put Diggory to sleep was “horrendous”. She said: “My brother had the presence of mind to take photos of him while he was covered in tubes. The vets were absolutely wonderful but they said ‘this is the time’ and I allowed them to put him down. Then I realised that since Diggory was dead it must make a difference.”
She filled in all the details online to update her police incident report, but nobody got in touch initially.
She has also been in contact with a friend who is a dog walker and who has passed the details on to her community in an effort to find the vicious canine.
Shona also put up a post on a the Trinity Facebook page where there have been dozens of comments, many from other dog owners.
One person suggested they had heard about this woman and her dog before. The commenter said that: “She clearly shouldn’t be in charge of her animal as it’s obviously vicious, unmuzzled and every time I see a post about her and her dog she doesn’t care about any dog that is attacked. I have a husky and a staffy and there’s no way I would be walking my dog around if it were so vicious. It is a dangerous dog, there are laws for it, regardless of breed.”
Others suggested nearby locations where a woman fitting this description had been spotted with a husky type dog, and one said the dog may have been responsible for the death of another dog in Dean Village. All of these comments are, however, unsubstantiated.
Local councillor Vicky Nicolson said: “It is truly awful there is no route to justice for the owner of this poor wee dog.”
A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: “We’re aware of this incident but as it’s subject to an ongoing Police investigation, we’re unable to comment.”
Police Scotland has also been contacted for comment.
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