Woman recounts horrific attack on her dog Stella in Carlow town

KOTRIONA Cioladis, a resident of Carlow town, was walking her dog Stella on Athy Road when it was attacked by a large lurcher-looking dog just before 9am on yesterday, Wednesday 7 January.

Kotriona (23) was out on her daily dog walk with her partner Patrick Nolan (29), their one-year-old son Riley, her dog Stella and her mother’s dog Lexi when the attack occurred.

Kotriona said that she was on Athy Road between Tanner’s Hall estate and the Athy Road roundabout when she noticed two dogs, without their owner, ahead of her on the pavement. One of the dogs was a large lurcher-looking dog with a coat on, the other was a black dog that she said looked a bit like a labrador or a border collie.

Seeing that the dogs were unattended, Kotriona and her partner decided to turn back the way they came. However, a moment later, the two loose dogs came running up to them with the large lurcher-type dog biting into Kotriona’s dog, Stella’s, back left leg.

“It just grabbed on and wouldn’t let go and was shaking the dog back and forth,” she said. “This was a proper latching on, locked jaw. My partner was trying to get the dog off Stella, but the dog would only let go after a chunk of Stella’s leg was already gone.” After the dog had ceased attacking Stella, Kotriona said the two unattended dogs ran off from the direction they had come.

“I got Stella in my arms, blood everywhere. You could see the gash on her leg straight away,” she continued. “I was just holding Stella because I genuinely thought that that was it. She was shaking, she was screaming.” She said that there were a number of cars travelling past them on Athy Road at that time and that some of the cars had slowed down or stopped to look at her and Stella.

“None of them rolled down their windows even to ask if we were okay, seeing the dog bloodied,” she added.

She then rang her local vet, Oaklawns Vet, and they told her to bring Stella in straight away. She carried her little dog all the way there.

“It was really hard to carry her all that way.” She said: “It was hard to keep a hold of her, keep her calm. I was in a state trying to keep my son calm. Then we have this other dog. It was just insane.” The veterinarians on shift immediately assessed Stella and took her into surgery, which was successful and Stella was fitted with a drainage tube before being allowed to go home the next day. However, Stella’s wounds are at risk of infection and if they do get infected, her leg may have to be amputated, she said.

Kotriona does not think that the two unattended dogs are stray dogs.

“One had a collar, one had a coat. So, obviously they’re looked after by someone,” she said.

The attack has been reported to the gardaí and the ISPCA.