Review of The Kilchrenan Inn 3*

Dog attack. On the 4th of March 2018, my wife and I checked into Kilchrenan Inn with our then 8-month-old, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy, Charlie. Shortly after checking in we took Charlie out on his lead onto the hotel grounds as the drive had been long. We heard some nearby dogs barking, however we didn’t know exactly where they were as we were at the top of the embankment that the hotel is set into. No sooner had we noticed this, than two dogs ran from the direction of the adjacent house at the bottom of the embankment and were quickly on both my wife and Charlie, knocking them to the ground. One dog was a small Terrier and the other a large Staffordshire Bullmastiff. The Bullmastiff was on top of my wife when one of the owners pulled him off by his collar. Both myself and a chef from the nearby Kitchen – who had responded to the owner’s shouts for help – grabbed the Terrier, which by this point had locked its jaws around Charlie’s throat and was thrashing. We managed to pry the Terrier’s jaws open, however before managing to remove the Terrier it attacked Charlie’s leg. Once the terrier was finally removed there was significant damage to Charlie and of course we were very upset by the event. If we weren’t there then Charlie would have certainly been killed. I spoke with the owners and asked them to report the incident to the police. The owner was very reluctant to do so, eventually handing me his landline phone to let me make the call to the local constabulary. He then continued to entertain other customers from behind the bar as if nothing had happened. We decided to leave straight away and get Charlie to our vet where he required to have his wounds seen to and a course of medication prescribed. Throughout the experience the owners did not apologise in anyway which I found incredible and very disappointing considering they pride themselves on being a dog and family friendly hotel. What if this had happened to a small child? We reported the incident to both the Police and Dog Warden for the area through concern for any future guests at the hotel. These 2 dogs were unprovoked, were out of sight of our puppy and attacked on scent alone. We decided to take legal advice, as we could not bare the thought of anyone else having a similar experience and to cover the cost of our vet bills. Our hope was that the owners would recognise the severity of the incident and at the very least apologise and ensure the dogs were kept away from the guest areas. Having previously acknowledged a letter from our lawyer and accepting liability (July 2018) they have not been in contact. This is now September 2018. I would advise if you have small dogs or children not to go anywhere near this hotel.