WARNING: This story contains graphic images.
GREENWICH VILLAGE — A woman from Philadelphia is trying to track down the dog that attacked her tiny Brussels Griffon — likely leaving her blind — at the Washington Square Park dog run earlier this month.
Natalie Hope McDonald, 40, was just leaving the dog run with her 8-year-old pup Louise, when a shepherd mix with a black mole over its eye "came out of nowhere and lunged at her" in the afternoon of Jan. 7, she told DNAinfo New York.
"I didn't realize what happened at first," McDonald said. "But Louise was crying and we grabbed her and that's when I saw that her eye had been ripped out and she was crying and bleeding."
McDonald jumped in a cab and rushed to the vet at the Washington Square Animal Hospital at 23 E. 9th St., who directed her to the BluePearl Emergency Animal Hospital at 1 W. 15th St. where Louise had emergency surgery.
Her eye was saved, but doctors said there's a 95 percent certainty she will be blind in that eye forever, McDonald said.
The attack was first reported by the Washington Square Park blog.
Now Louise has a cone around her head to protect her eye and her stitches, and a University of Pennsylvania veterinary ophthalmologist told McDonald that Louise will have to stay that way until at least the end of the month, she said.
Louise has to be fed by hand and given water with a syringe in the meantime, McDonald said, "because she can't risk hitting her eye on a bowl." The pup has to take several medications every day, she said.
Louise being fed water with a syringe. Photo Credit: Natalie Hope McDonald.
Now McDonald, a journalist and artist, wants to track down the owner of the dog that attacked Louise.
"I just want to make sure this doesn't happen again," she said.
McDonald said she regrets not asking the person who was with the other dog for contact information, but she was focused on Louise.
"I was trying to keep her calm and stay calm myself, which wasn't easy," she said. "Everything changed in seconds."
McDonald said while there are two dog run areas at the park — one for small dogs only and the other for larger dogs, where small dogs are allowed — she opted to bring Louise into the large dog run because there was another Brussels Griffon that caught her eye because she looked just like Louise.
"I wish I could hit reverse," she said, "I wouldn't have assumed that the larger dog run was safe."
She added that there weren't many large dogs and "quite a few" small dogs in the large run when she entered. She asked the owners of the other small dogs if they felt safe, and they said they did.
When some larger dogs started to enter, she put Louise on a leash to leave the area — which is when the pooch was attacked, she said.
"The way this happened, it could have occurred simply walking on the street," she said. "There was no provocation whatsoever."
Louise was playing with another Brussels Griffon named Peggy before she was attacked, McDonald said. Photo Credit: Natalie Hope McDonald.
McDonald said she comes to New York often, and always made sure to visit the Washington Square Park dog run.
"We truly love it," she said. "People are always so nice, and we've never had any issues with other dogs."
The experience hasn't soured McDonald on New York, though. If anything, the responses of New Yorkers did just the opposite.
"A woman I didn't even know helped us get a cab outside of the Washington Square Vet," she recounted. "Everyone we came in contact with was so kind."
Louise at Cafe Reggio before the attack. Photo credit: Natalie Hope McDonald.
