Grieving dog owner ‘blown away’ by West Mayo town’s kindness

Nala was well known throughout Westport, Newport and even as far as Maam Cross in Connemara as she people watched from the passenger seat window wagging her tail. She was a regular swimmer down at the Quay. 

Her owner Caroline Spellman Grey and her husband were running errands on Shop Street in Westport on Tuesday morning when Caroline recalls that “Nala managed to put down the window with her paw, jumped out to follow me, and I just heard the screech.”

Tragedy followed as a car hit the award winning Yorkshire Terrier, resulting in injuries that required her to be put down. 

Caroline tells The Mayo News that she was “blown away” by the kindness of all the people who came to her aid in the aftermath. 

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“I was just so grateful to everybody. They were just all so nice and kind in a world that's full of upset. People that didn't know me and were so kind.”

Both the staff from McLoughlin's Newsagents and AIB rushed out to help, as well as a holidaymaker passing by who happened to be from the RSPCA. Another kind person gave her tissues. 

“I was just blown away with all the care There's a thing about Westport. I'm from Westport and there's just a niceness to people in Westport.”

“I know that there's an awful lot of sadder things happening in the world, but I just wanted people to know how grateful I was for everything that was done for her.”

Caroline is also thankful to the vets in WestVets, she says the Fabbys were “unbelievable and very caring.”

They got to spend time with Nala before she was put down. 

Two days on, Caroline Grey Spellman tells The Mayo News that the loss of Nala is “still very raw.”

She doesn’t blame the driver of the car that ran over Nala but “everyone was kind of shocked that the car just drove off.”

She is very understanding that the driver may have been frightened of the reaction but feels they should have stopped and got out. 

“If they had just stood their ground for a minute, I would have told them that it's not your fault.”

‘Seeing her little face on the tablet made me fight to get home’

Describing Nala as a “a bit of a Hell's Angels,  who had no fear”, Caroline says that seeing Nalaboo’s “little face on the tablet made me fight to get home” when she was in hospital for three months. 

This time included one month in intensive care on a ventilator while recovering from Covid. 

Caroline has had a number of health challenges in recent years and Nala has been her “little co pilot.”

Nala has been her reason to get up in the morning as Long Covid has meant Caroline is not currently in a position to work. 

Only last weekend Caroline and Nala were down in Maam Cross and recently, she entered into a dog show for a bit of fun. 

“We went out to the Leenan sheep show for the craic a few weeks ago. There was a dog show, and I put her into it, and she won a load of prizes. We came in the road with all her rosettes.”

She scooped four prizes, including for best groomed, the dog who everyone wanted to take home and most obedient.

Caroline was especially proud of the best groomed prize as she had groomed Nala herself after teaching herself from watching Youtube.

A couple of years ago, Nala had escaped from the car and disappeared before being found again later that evening. 

Nala has been buried in the back garden and a tree will be planted this weekend.

A quiz night will be held later this month in Ballyhaunis and a donation will be made to Mayo SPCA in Nala's memory.

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