Memories: Deirdre Cotter Daly with a photo of her Bichon Frise Teddy, accompanied by her other dog Amber. Photo: Mark Condren

A woman has told how her beloved dog was attacked and killed by two bigger dogs on a well-known Dublin beach.

Deirdre Cotter Daly (52), from Clontarf, was walking on Dollymount Strand at around 8am on Tuesday with her two dogs Amber and Teddy when they were attacked by two bigger dogs, believed to be a mix of Pitbull and Mastiff.

"I had to protect Amber in my arms and I couldn't get to Teddy. All of a sudden, I heard Teddy screeching and crying when the other dog attacked him," she said.

"He was biting him, holding him down by the neck and just tearing into him. The second one joined when he couldn't get to me."

Ms Cotter Daly had a stick and used this to try and save Teddy, a Bichon Frise.

"I broke my stick on the head of one of them but he just wouldn't let Teddy go. One finally ran away but the other kept going. I screamed for help over and over again and after a while the second one finally ran off."

Two men heard her cries and helped her carry the badly injured dog to the road, from where gardaí helped get him to the vet.

"The vets told me that they had never seen such horrific injuries and that there was unfortunately no hope for my poor Teddy," she said.

Gardaí have since launched an investigation into the incident.

Ms Cotter Daly said she was devastated at the loss of Teddy who had helped her through treatment after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2009.

"When I was sick in bed, Teddy was with me all day, every day," she said. "It was like he was minding me. I never felt alone."

Irish Independent