A Dundee dog owner was left “terrified” after yobs threw stones and hurled abuse while following her home.
Simone Smith is now reluctant to walk her dog, Mack, at night after the unsavoury incident on South Road.
The 44-year-old was pursued by three teens after encountering them at a bus shelter on Wednesday evening.
Two girls and a boy followed the pair and struck the woman and her Kokoni puppy with stones.
Ms Smith explained her ordeal started after Mack had “playfully” jumped up in the group’s direction while being some distance away on a lead.
‘Walk from hell’
“It became the walk from hell, I was terrified by the time I got home,” she explained.
“My puppy is only seven months old; we adopted him from Romania.
“He’s quite playful and there was two girls and a boy at the shelter as we went past.
“Mack jumped up but he was about 2ft away from them and I had a good grip of the lead.
“I’d walked on about 20 yards before the boy shouted ‘is that your dog?’.
The dog was trying to dodge him but I think one of the stones hit him as he yelped, it was really scary.”
Simone Smith
“He then added ‘I shouldn’t have a dog’ if I couldn’t ‘f****** control it.'”
The dog owner hoped that would be the end of the episode before the louts started to follow her.
‘I was actually shaking’
She added: “I thought that was going to be it but the next minute they were heading in my direction.
“They started saying ‘check the dog anyway’ and started throwing stones, kicking rubbish at us.
“I don’t know if that was just the boy but the three of them were laughing.”
While “volleying abuse” at her, Ms Smith said the boy would also run right up her side and pretend to kick her beloved pet.
“The dog was trying to dodge him but I think one of the stones hit him as he yelped, it was really scary,” she said.
“I’d turned on to Buttar’s Loan and they continued down the street for a bit before they headed off.
“When I got home, I was actually shaking at what had gone on. My daughter told me to call the police.
“I called 101 and told them about what had happened.”
Ms Smith decided to share her experience to make others aware of what had taken place.
‘Unacceptable’
She said: “There I was, a 44-year-old woman being bullied and left terrified by three teenagers.
“I would have placed them at around 15 years old. The boy had a white Adidas top with red stripes.
“My daughter put something on social media after it happened, to warn others.
“It’s a walk I’ve done often but I am reluctant to walk the dog after dark at the moment.
“The first bit of abuse I could have tolerated but to be followed, verbally abused, stones thrown and dirt kicked at us, is unacceptable.”
Police Scotland have been approached for comment.
