Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
I wailed as devil dog rag-dolled wee Roxiee
ANDY SHIPLEY
A distraught Coatbridge dog owner has told how her tiny pooch was mauled by a savage Staffie in a horror street attack.
Brave Samantha Brown was also bitten fighting off the feral dog as it gouged at little Roxiee’s neck, leaving tendons showing, and gnawed off part of her ear.
Cops are now investigating the incident, which took place in Shawhead’s Broughton Place on August 8, amid fears that a child could become the next victim.
Warehouse worker Samantha, 27, said: “The Staffie locked its jaws and rag-dolled her back and forward like a chew toy.
“Roxiee has attitude and is a confident wee dog, but she just accepted death and lay there like a piece of meat – it was absolutely horrible.”
Samantha was out for a walk with sister Ashliegh Costello, 38, and nieces Faith, ten, and one-year-old Sophie.
She recalled: “Out of nowhere, this dog came flying. My sister thought it was going for my niece so she picked her up and the dog started mauling my wee Roxiee so she kicked it to get it to stop.”
The street was packed with kids playing and neighbours chatting who watched on in horror as the attack unfolded.
Samantha said: “I wasn’t even screaming, my sister said afterwards it was like a wailing noise she’d never heard anyone make before.”
The horrific 15-minute attack only ended when a woman came and beat the Staffie until it let Roxiee go before hauling it away.
Samantha now faces getting a tetanus jab after the dog’s teeth punctured the skin on her hand, though Roxiee took the full brunt.
The cuddly 13-year-old Pomeranian was rushed to the emergency vets and had six stitches to reattach the skin to her neck and two more in her ear.
But the trauma will take longer to heal and Samantha said: “I’m not sure she’ll ever get over it.
“I’m sleeping on the floor with her for a while. She growls in her sleep and is fearful to go out. I am too unless I’ve got someone with me and she picks up on my anxiety as well.”
Since posting photos of Roxiee’s injuries online, Samantha has been inundated with messages of support, with one owner suggesting the same dog has struck before.
Samantha said: “It’s a dangerous dog. I love animals but that dog needs to be destroyed because it could be a child next and it could be seriously injured or killed.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman confirmed officers are investigating and “enquiries are ongoing.”
She added: “We received a report around 1pm on Saturday, August 8, of a dog attacking a woman and her dog in the Broughton Place area of Coatbridge. The woman declined immediate medical treatment.”