AN Ardoyne family have warned fellow dog owners to be vigilant after they foiled an attempt to poison their pet at the weekend.

Pádraig and Maria Clarke had put Irish terrier Cain in the back yard of their Ardglen home in the early hours of Sunday morning when they noticed him go for something on the ground and eat it.

Cain was about to eat a second item when Pádraig was able to restrain him. It was then Padraig realised food had been thrown into the yard.

“It was a ball of mince but in the inside there was lots of what looked like tablets,” he said. “We found out later that it was rat poison.”

Maria phoned a 24-hour veterinary helpline and was advised to feed the dog salt to make him throw up and eject the poison. This was successful and Cain has now fully recovered. The mother-of-four said she is at a loss to understand why anyone would try to kill their dog.

“He’s a house dog. We keep him inside all the time so it’s not like his barking was annoying anyone. We have no idea why someone would do this.”

Cain was bought for Pádraig and Maria’s four children and Maria said they are “devastated”.

“They keep asking who would do it but we don’t know. You would have your suspicions but you can’t go accusing people. What worries me is that my kids play in the back yard and this stuff was lying there.”

Pádraig said they have never had any problems in the area.

“We are here seven years and there has never been anything like this,” he said.

The family didn’t report the incident to the PSNI, but said they wanted to go public to warn other dog owners.

“I would say to people to have a good look round their yards before they let their dogs out, because you don’t know what these people would do,” said Pádraig.­