A devastated mum is living with “unbearable guilt” after her nine-month-old puppy died when he was crushed by a reclining sofa – bought just days earlier. Claire Hilton, 53, and daughter Kerry, 30, were tidying their living room on Thursday morning when Kerry tried to put the leg rest of the new electric sofa back down to its original position.
The pair heard French bulldog Kobe yelp out in pain and it was only then they realised he’d crept underneath the sofa. Mum-of-two Claire said she desperately tried to release Kobe by reclining the sofa but his neck was tangled in the bars and he was struggling to breathe.
While Claire continued trying to free him, Kerry rushed next door for help and her neighbours tried to release Kobe with an angle grinder but the frame was too thick so she was forced to call the fire brigade.
By the time firefighters arrived 10 minutes later Kobe had fallen unconscious.
When they managed to cut him loose, the tiny pooch was given CPR and an oxygen mask but tragically it was too late.
Claire says she now lives with “unbearable guilt” as they’d only picked up the second hand Fabb Furniture sofa five days earlier.
Her three grandchildren Isla, 10, Evie, seven, and Amelia, five, have also been left heartbroken by the tragedy.
Claire, from Poole, Dorset, said: “I heard Kerry playing with the dogs in the kitchen, they followed her to the living room and he just went under there without us noticing.
“She wasn’t sat on the sofa, she was just tidying up the room and putting the recliner back.
“We heard him yelp and Kerry said ‘oh my God, Kobe is under there’ so we tried to open it.
“We thought we’d put it back up and he’d be alright but he was stuck in the mechanics and he was panicking.
“His head was stuck under one of the bars and it was tightening.
“Every time we moved it, it got tighter. It was strangling him. We both tried to get him out but we just couldn’t.
“We ran next door and got a grinder to grind the bar away because it’s quite thick.
“Kerry called the fire brigade and they got there within ten minutes, he’d gone all quiet.
“They got him out and tried to resuscitate him but he’d gone and it was terrible, it all happened so quickly.
“The grandkids were coming down for the morning but we told them not to.
“We’re devastated. We only had the sofa for five days, we wish we’d never got it but it never occurred to us that something like this could happen.
“We felt absolutely helpless in helping him and the guilt is now unbearable.”
CEO of Fabb Furniture Matt Hesketh said his “deepest sympathies go out to the family”.
Claire said her grandchildren have been left heartbroken and she has had to explain to five-year-old Amelia that Kobe has ‘gone to a better place’.
Pepper is missing her little brother and lays on the sofa where the pup passed away.
Claire said: “The kids are devastated, the eldest is absolutely heartbroken, Evie was a bit upset and Amelia doesn’t understand.
“She kept asking questions and we just told her ‘he’s in a nice place now’.
“After he passed away, we put him in a quilt and laid him on the floor and Pepper was going over to him. It’s best for her to see because dogs know.
“She lays on the sofa where Kobe died.
Heartbroken Claire said the sofa will be going to the tip and she is now speaking out to warn other pet owners about the potential dangers of reclining chairs.
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