Terrified dog who loved to play now too scared to leave the house after sick thugs slashed her belly open in garden
Distraught owner Courtney Cartledge told how Sage was left so badly injured her flesh was hanging off
AN animal-loving teen says her dog has been left too scared to go outside after sick yobs slashed open her belly as she played in their garden – leaving her 'flesh hanging off' an eight-inch wound.
Courtney Cartledge, 18, had left two-year-old Sage playing in the front garden of their home in Musselburgh, Scotland, on the morning of Aug 10.
Despite not hearing any disturbance, Courtney's mum Carol spotted the injured Labrador cross through the window and rushed to her to the vets.
Once there it was confirmed the large, clean cut, which peeled the flesh from the wound and exposed the muscle beneath, had not been an accident but was most likely a targeted attack by someone with a knife or blade.
Customer service assistant Courtney said: "Sage always plays in the front garden.
"My mum had been getting ready to go to work and she noticed from the window that Sage had a cut on her stomach.
"We called her in but she wouldn't come in, which we thought was a bit strange really, she normally comes in straight away.
"When we got her inside we realised just how big the cut was.
"I was in shock and to be honest I still am.
"We took her straight to the vets as the cut was around eight inches long as was really deep.
"The vet said that it was such a clean cut that it must have been done with a knife or a blade- it couldn't have been from her catching her body on something in the garden.
"It was so deep that the flesh was actually hanging off.
"The vet stitched it back up and gave us some pain medication for her."
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Since the attack customer service assistant, Courtney, admits that Sage hasn't been the same and is quite nervous about leaving the house.
Courtney said: "Sage has become quite wary of going outside now.
"She won't go out unless we go out with her so we haven't taken her for a walk yet because she is so nervous.
"Sage is still in quite a lot of pain too, she is on pain killers but we have had to up her dosage as she was really struggling with the pain.
"Since we adopted her at six-weeks-old she has always been very energetic and loves to play and is always jumping around.
"At the minute she seems very nervous and is just lying around- I think that could be because of the pain too."
She continued: "It is worrying as whoever did this just did it to a random dog on the street.
"They could quite easily do it to another animal.
"Thankfully no other animals on our road have been hurt but it doesn't mean they won't do it again.
";I just hope we can find who did it. We did call the police and they are treating it as a crime."
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: "Police are investigating after a dog suffered an injury to its body whilst in a garden in the Pinkie area of Musselburgh on Thursday 10th August.
"Officers from Musselburgh Police Station want to speak to anyone who was in the area at the time and may have seen or heard anything suspicious, contact Police Scotland."