A lifeguard, the palm of whose hand was ripped open when she tried to separate fighting dogs, lost a Circuit Civil Court claim yesterday for €38,000 damages for personal injuries.
Ms Fiona Daly claimed she had been injured trying to save her pet Labrador, Sam, from an attack by a Rottweiller named Zeus in the waiting room of the Priory Veterinary Hospital, Dublin, in 2001.
Ms Daly said she had been in the reception when Zeus wandered in through open doors. After a couple of sniffs he attacked Sam, gripping him by the neck and refusing to let go. After a three-hour court hearing it was the aspersions cast on the parenthood of Zeus that carried the day for his owner - Ms Lily Raftery, Avonmore Close, Aylesbury, Tallaght.
Counsel for Ms Raftery told the court Zeus's pedigree was unknown and, since he had died a year later, there was now no way of confirming it. Ms Raftery was convinced he was not a Rottweiller.
Judge Alison Lindsay said Ms Daly, Brotherly Estate, Tallaght, had been unable to prove that Zeus was a Rottweiller. As a restricted breed, far more stringent control regulations including muzzling would have applied to Ms Raftery's control of Zeus.