Waipukurau mum Logan Tait feels concerned and fearful after one of her three dogs, a huntaway named Horse, was shot in her backyard. Photo / Warren Buckland
Waipukurau mum Logan Tait feels concerned and fearful after one of her three dogs, a huntaway named Horse, was shot in her backyard. Photo / Warren Buckland
A new mum in Hawke's Bay says she feels unsettled and fearful in her own home, after coming home to find one of her three dogs had been shot.
Waipukurau couple Logan and Lochie Tait, spent most of Saturday afternoon at their friend's place, getting back a bit later thanthey expected, shortly before 9pm.
Being a hot day, they'd put their three dogs outside in a fenced run area at the back of their house in Tavistock Rd.
When they went to get the dogs out of the run, the largest - a huntaway named Horse - started "screaming".
"There was just blood everywhere," Logan said of Horse when they got him inside.
"He's doing better but is not 100 per cent out of the woods. If it was one of the other dogs, they wouldn't have made it."
She said their other dogs were fine and it appeared Horse has been targetted specifically - with police believing a slug gun was used.
She acknowledged they'd had trouble with his barking in the past - a trait huntaways are well known for - but the dogs had since been moved and there hadn't been an issue for a long time.
"To shoot him is a bit extreme."
Horse survived the shooting but has a way to go, including a possible surgery to remove the pellets next month when the blood in his chest has cleared. Photo / Warren Buckland
With a newborn baby at home, and the run not visible from the road, the whole incident had left her feeling nervous.
"It's really unsettling to feel like that in your own home.
"They are inside dogs and very much well-loved pets."
Police and the local council had been notified of the incident.
