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Bitten owner from Inverness warns about homeless dog


By Louise Glen

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Buddy the dog at home in Hilton.
Buddy the dog at home in Hilton.

A man who returned an adopted greyhound after it bit him says the dog was almost immediately put back up for rehoming.

Blair Cowan (20), from Hilton, said he wanted to raise awareness of the dog in case anyone else rehomed him in good faith.

Buddy, an eight-year-old former racing greyhound, was adopted by Mr Cowan in February, and it bit him on April 24.

Mr Cowan said: “It is not the dog’s fault, but what if Buddy attacks again? I only lost layers of my skin on my arm, but next time it could be much worse.

Blair Cowan.
Blair Cowan.

"I do not want anyone to adopt this dog without people being fully aware of the situation.

“When I adopted him I was told about his aggressive tendencies, but this dog was anxious and would headbutt me a lot.

“When I returned him to the charity I asked for a full assessment of him to be done before he was placed with anyone else. Buddy has had five homes that I know of, and clearly something is wrong.

Blair Cowan's arm was bitten by the dog.
Blair Cowan's arm was bitten by the dog.

"But 10 days later he was back up on the Scottish Rescue Pets website waiting for him to be re-homed. They even called him a lovely dog.”

Mr Cowan received an email from a dog behaviour specialist after taking Buddy home. It warned of the dog’s aggression.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary said it put Buddy’s profile online.

“The main purpose of this was to generate interest so we could begin to assess potential homes for him and the other dogs in our care,” she said.

“The Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary upholds very high standards with regards to our rehoming activities.

“We perform personal home checks, we give full and frank information about every dog’s history to any potential homes, including bite history on the rare occasion where one is known.”

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