Poison 'suspected' in dog's death

Scooter and Peter McMullen - pic courtesy News Letter

A Coleraine man has said that he believes his dog may have been poisoned.

Police have been called in to investigate the death of Scooter, a seven-year-old Labrador cross, belonging to Peter McMullen.

The dog started shaking violently on Monday, and had to be put down.

The dog's stomach contents have been sent away for examination, as has a blue substance found outside her kennel.

Mr McMullen had picked the dog up from his sister's in Belfast on Sunday in perfect health after attending a wedding and went to his home in the County Londonderry town.

He believes she ingested whatever caused her death after being out the back on Monday morning.

His lodger let the dog back in during the afternoon and it was then her condition was noticed.

Mr McMullen rushed the dog - which he had owned since she was a puppy - to the vet and was told she may have been poisoned.

Dog Listener

"They said it was touch and go whether she would make it and that even if she did she would not be the same dog, so I had to make the decision to have her put down," he told the BBC News website.

The father-of-two said his children - Shannon, nine, and seven-year-old Leon - had been devastated at the loss of their beloved pet, just before Christmas.

Mr McMullen said that she had been a "bit wild" as a pup, but he had followed the training methods of Dog Listener Jan Fennel to turn her into a fantastic family dog who was popular with neighbourhood children.

"Kids would call for Scooter in the summer and play fetch with her for hours," he said.

"She had a gentle nature and was fantastic with children, she really loved them - toddlers aged two would crawl over her and she just loved it."

He said that he thought the dog may have been targeted by a person with a grudge against him.

Mr McMullen said if she was found to have been poisoned he hoped police would be able to catch whoever did it.

A police spokesman said that a substance had been sent for forensic examination and that their enquiries were continuing.