Mr Hughes, who was walking Archie at the time of the fatal accident, commented: “I don’t have children of my own, he was my wee man, my first dog and the best thing to walk into our home.
“Joanne and I adored him and we used to joke that if we had to choose between one of us and the dog, it would be a close run thing.
“Now he’s gone and our home feels desolate. Our hearts are broken.”
Ms McPoland said she was “sick with shock” after the loss of Archie, and is “bereft, devastated” to have lost a dog that only turned one a week before dying.
She added: “The shock, the grief and the guilt are overwhelming. We seem to be stuck on a loop going over it again and again.”
The couple have also called for Pets at Home to issue a product recall, which is said to only be possible with the approval of pet apparel firm Mission Pets.