When the Pit-Bull attacked my Guide Dog Keegan, I felt attacked too...

Guide Dogs Victoria client, Kristy Hyland, tells us of the horrific ordeal that led to the early retirement of her Guide Dog and best friend Keegan...

My name is Kristy Hyland. I’m 23.

While I have been legally blind since birth, I lost most of my sight in my teenage years. It was difficult trying to get my teachers and fellow students to understand what I could and couldn’t see. I found I could no longer see my friends or anything on the blackboard.

Now the only sight I have left is movement perception in my left eye and that’s going too. I was 17 when my mum and I discussed my getting a Guide Dog.

Keegan changed my life so much.

Once I got him, people recognised I couldn’t see. Suddenly I was a lot more visible. People could see if I was looking a bit lost, and would come up and help me. They’d hear me talking to Keegan and offer their support too. It makes life so much easier.

Keegan was a great help in getting me to university on public transport. Sometimes at Flinders Street Station you don’t hear the announcements very clearly. Keegan was smart enough to lead me to someone I could ask for directions.

It was late on a Thursday coming home from a sporting event that Keegan was attacked.

I got off the train at Mooroolbark Railway Station when it started. I didn’t really know what was happening; I just knew another dog was attacking Keegan.

It was an American pit-bull cross. At first I thought perhaps its owner simply couldn’t control it, but a witness told the police they saw the owner showing off, telling the dog to ‘Get him Woofer’. The pit-bull hid behind a car and attacked Keegan as we walked past.

There was nothing I could do except get in and try to separate the dogs.

I kept yelling out to Keegan to ‘Go, go, go’, but he was so loyal he just stayed with me. He knew I was in danger, and wouldn’t leave me.

Keegan suffered severe puncture wounds near his stomach. He was put on a drip in the Veterinary Hospital for 24 hours, and was off work recovering for 10 days. I wasn’t prepared to give up on him, just as he hadn’t given up on me. When he finally came home, he and I spent a lot of time on the floor snuggling up as his physical wounds healed.

Sadly, Keegan never recovered psychologically.

I was in the US for 5 months at the University of Florida as part of my degree in Public Relations, but Keegan fell apart and couldn’t work any more. He kept freaking out, having panic attacks.

When I came home, Keegan had to be retired. He now lives in South Australia with the couple who raised him as a puppy.

I was devastated by what happened to Keegan. I felt attacked too. It was like my eyes and freedom had both been taken.

There’s the trauma, and the injuries he suffered. There’s the pain of missing his companionship. At a practical level I lost Keegan’s workability, and the independence he gave me. I was in the final year of my degree, and it took quite a while before my lecturers realised I was missing classes, and that when I was there, Keegan wasn’t.

I struggled to cope.

It’s been 9 months since I had to give up Keegan. This waiting time for a new Guide Dog is difficult and frustrating. I can only go places I am familiar with. Other new places are very stressful. I have to be determined, and tell myself I absolutely must do this.

Keegan made my life so different and independent – that’s a gift no words can describe. Without our Guide Dogs, a lot of us with severe vision loss would be hiding away in the dark in our houses.

I know that without the generous people who support Guide Dogs Victoria, the dogs cannot be trained. That’s why I say that without you we are completely lost.

Kristy successfully achieved her degree in December.
She is now looking for work in public relations, and is hoping her wait for a new Guide Dog will soon be over.