North Adelaide: Fashion designer terrified after man kicked puppy Hercules: Couture Love Madness

A fashion designer has issued an urgent warning to dog owners after her Instagram-famous puppy was repeatedly kicked in the ribs at a popular dog park.

Cristina Tridente, the founder of fashion house Couture Love Madness, was left ‘terrified’ after a mystery man unleashed on her golden retriever Hercules. 

She had been walking the adorable seven-month-old in a park at Robe Terrace in Adelaide’s north on Saturday afternoon when the sickening act of animal cruelty took place.

The shaken fashionista said Hercules had become frightened while playing with the attacker’s dog and had cowered behind his legs. 

‘The owner starting kicking him with force, in the ribs,’ Ms Tridente told The Advertiser . 

‘He did this twice while I ran over and when I questioned him he grabbed Hercy by the collar and he would not release him.’

When the man showed no sign of letting her puppy go, the designer began to scream in the hopes another dog owner would help her. 

‘I had to wrestle the grip off him to set Hercy free,’ she wrote to social media. 

‘He kept screaming at me that it was “people like me who cause dogs to get injured because of his size”.’

Ms Tridente said seeing her beloved puppy being kicked in the guts was ‘horrifying’.

She quickly left the park, but not before telling dog owners in person and on her social media what had happened and to stay safe. 

The designer described the man as aged in his 50s, with a slim build and short brown hair, and said he was wearing blue jeans and ‘flashy’ sunglasses.  

Ms Tridente said the incident had been particularly traumatic because the man had refused to let Hercules go despite her panicked pleas. 

‘I just want other owners to be aware. I go there almost every day, it’s a lovely area and there always lots of lovely people and dogs,’ she said. 

Ms Tridente said she has reported the incident to South Australian Police.