A maniac snuck up behind a woman and her son as they walked their dog in Union Square and stabbed the plush pooch in the rear, leaving the pup in need of emergency surgery, her owners said Saturday.
The 1-year-old Bernadoodle, named Hazel, was with owners Orly Nhaissi and her young son Elijah Sherinsky as they strolled home from Breads Bakery around 7 p.m. Friday when a man yelled something.
The apparently deranged man then bent over and jabbed Hazel with a knife near the intersection of 14th Street near Union Square West.
“He stabbed Hazel, right there in her butt,” said Elijah. “She didn’t do anything. We were just walking and he yelled something out. I think he said ‘You’re an idiot.’”
The man, who laughed and grinned right after the attack, had a knife, the teen and his mom said.
“I thought at first it was a vape,” the 13-year-old said. “But then I realized it was this pink sheath, black blade. It was a little bigger, I think, than a pocket knife but not a kitchen knife.”
Elijah ran after the man but then stopped as his worried mom shouted at him to come back.
“I was yelling ‘No, No, Elijah come back!” the mom, 46, who’s in professional development, recalled.
“I thought he was going to stab me, but he didn’t,” the teen said.
The mother and son brought the dog back into their building’s lobby but she was “bleeding a lot,” the mom said.
“The blood was gushing in the lobby,” Nhaissi said.
The doorman gave her paper towels and a rag, and other neighbors jumped into help her pick the dog up and take her to the nearby BluePearl Pet Hospital for emergency surgery.
“It’s really devastating,” the mom said. “We’re lucky that he didn’t harm us, but it just kills me. Who stabs a dog, you know?”
“Why would anyone stab an innocent, harmless animal?” she asked. “It’s just because I guess they can.”
It took police around two hours to respond to the family’s 911 call, she said.
“There are no cops in New York City anymore,” the dismayed mom said.
“They were perfectly nice, when they came and helpful,” she added.
Hazel went through a surgery which took several hours to stitch up her wound, and was home by around 2 a.m. Saturday, the family said.
Hazel now wears a bag, where blood drains from her wound through a tube. She is expected to take about three months to recover, her owners said.
The family has pet insurance but has already shelled out $3,200 for the procedure.
Dad Joe Sherinsky, a 47-year-old lawyer, had a message for the stabber: “Get help.”
“This is our first dog,” he said. “She’s the best. She’s pure joy.”
Detectives are investigating the incident, a police spokesman said.
