Ben Pawlowski
AN aspiring young footballer has said he has been left ‘paranoid’ after falling victim to a savage attack by an unruly police dog while holidaying in Spain.
Kealan Behan, 20, was walking along Carrer de Carles Buigas, one of the main strips in tourist-friendly Salou, Catalunya, on Wednesday afternoon when the unchained canine lept out from underneath a police car and bit his leg.
The incident left the tourist bloodied and requiring a visit to the local pharmacy, where he was forced to fork out almost €40 for plasters and antibiotics in an attempt to stave off the threat of infection.
Behan, from Dublin, Ireland, was walking with his girlfriend and planning to ask police officers for directions to the local go-karting track when the out-of-control hound launched its attack.
“We were walking close to the wall and there was a police car with its rear end facing us,” he explains. “There were a few policemen standing there, three of them, and we were going to basically ask them what time the local bus was leaving to the go-karting in Salou.
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“It turns out there was a black German Shepherd underneath. We were going to ask them a question and he came out from underneath the car and just latched onto my belly. I have a small mark on my belly. Thankfully he didn’t catch me properly because I had a T-shirt on.
“My initial reaction was to push him down, and when I did that he bit me again on the upper part of my left leg.”
The wound later started bleeding before swelling up.
The Irishman says the dog ‘didn’t seem to have any recall or anything to tell him to stop’, and appeared ‘very reactive to humans’.
According to Behan, one of the Policia Local officers blamed him for the attack, claiming that the young couple had snuck up to the car and spooked the dog.
He was later offered a mild apology – although the cops didn’t take note of the incident or even offer the wounded Behan a first-aid kit or medical assistance before hurriedly driving away.
Behan is worried that the nasty incident could have been a whole lot worse.
“God forbid I was a child or a mother walking with a buggy, going to the nearby park, walking around the back of the car and the dog latches onto someone’s child. That would have been very different,” he says.
“Thank God he didn’t catch me properly or, as I said, a child, or even my girlfriend who was beside me, because if he caught her she might have become a bit of dinner.
“Even if I got bit any more, I think I would have had to go to the hospital. Thank God my tetanus jab was in date from my home country.”
Behan trains five days a week with Bohemians FC, a top football side in his native Ireland, as part of a higher-level college course – and says the injury could have impacted his aspirations to play the sport.
He says: “Oh definitely, if my jabs weren’t up to date, God forbid my whole leg got infected, now that would not have been ideal. That would have been an absolute nightmare.”
Behan’s girlfriend says the ‘horrible experience’ left her ‘shocked’ on what was the young lovers’ first holiday abroad together.
It has also raised questions about the training of police dogs in Spain.
“I was very shocked because at the end of the day, they are supposed to be trained,” she explains. “They are supposed to be K9s, you are supposed to be able to go up and pet them, they are supposed to be friendly unless something is going on. This is our first holiday together abroad and we were not expecting Kealan to get bit, it was completely out of the ordinary.”
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Behan adds: “Is it a dog that hasn’t been fully trained? Because a K9 dog should not that be reactive to a human […] The dog was just thrown back in the cage with a slap on the nose – not that I want anything to be done to the dog, of course. It’s not the dog’s fault. It never is. It’s the owner.”
He admits the incident ‘ruined’ his day and has ‘definitely impacted’ the remainder of the couple’s week-long holiday.
According to the Polcia Nacional, dogs on active police duty are trained to be calm and obedient in public settings, with any defensive behaviour controlled by the canine’s handler.
Prior to entering active service, prospective police dogs go through long training courses designed to solidify the relationship between animal and handler.
The Policia Local in Salou have been approached for comment.
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