Puppy killed in dog attack

Leona Plaisier wasn’t there the day her puppy was killed by another dog, but the account from her fiance brings the horrible experience to life.

‘‘He described it as he’s never heard a dog make a noise like that. It was just a horrific screaming noise.’’

Plaisier was working in Auckland on the fateful day her fiance took their 3-month-old puppy, Zadie, to fish at Waitata Bay in Pelorus Sound last week.

He went down to the wharf and saw there were three men there with a dog. Their boat was tied up.

‘‘So he went up to them said, ‘I’ve got a pup, is your dog alright with pups?’ – as you would ask. They said, ‘Yes, he’s fine’.’’

The Marlborough woman said her partner let the enthusiastic puppy go and it ran right up to the other dog.

‘‘The dog reacted quite badly, and grabbed her around the neck and shook her a few times.

‘‘She starts screaming like hell, obviously, so my partner had to pull them apart.’’

He carried the whimpering puppy to his truck, unaware that the men were leaving with their dog.

‘‘He didn’t know who they were, what their names were or what the dog’s name was. He didn’t notice much about the boat either.’’ All he knew was that it was an aluminium runabout with a black outboard motor.

Zadie was taken home but with help a couple of hours away, a call to a veterinarian was all that could be done. ‘‘The vet wasn’t sure how to help,’’ Plaister said.

The puppy was alive but not moving, she said. ‘‘Then very quickly she got worse. She started spewing up, and she wasn’t eating or drinking. She couldn’t walk . . . she was just limp.

‘‘She died not long after that,’’ within about an hour of the attack.

Plaisier said it was impossible to know what killed Zadie, but it was ‘‘probably an internal injury’’.

The couple had high hopes for Zadie, who was to be trained as a big game indicator dog, she said. ‘‘If she was really good at indicating, I was considering making her a conservation dog.’’

She said she was ‘‘devastated’’ when her partner called to tell her what had happened.

The couple hoped to find the dog, described as a medium to large brown brindle male. It had a large head for its size and a pointed snout. ‘‘It looked like a real mix of all sorts of breeds.’’

Plaisier said she wanted to find the owners to get compensation but also, ultimately, to stop the dog doing the same thing to others. If anyone had any information, they could contact Blenheim police on 03 578 5279.