An 81-year-old frequent visitor recovering from hip replacement surgery learned this week that dogs will not be allowed on the Island without the proper documents.

But New Yorker Barbara Littlejohn claimed that she suffered bruising at the hands of her teachers -- Bermudian customs officers -- and this was a lesson that could have been avoided.

Meanwhile the woman's claims were refuted by a Police spokesman who said that the Customs officers acted properly in their handling of the situation.

Ms Littlejohn told The Royal Gazette yesterday from her room at the Coral Beach Club -- where she has been a member since 1961 -- that she arrived in Bermuda on Sunday aboard US Airways flight 950 with Tina, her four-pound Yorkshire Terrier, in tow.

Due to recent hip replacement surgery, she continued, she had to ride in a wheelchair while clearing Immigration and heading to Customs.

There she was denied entry to the Island because, although she had a Government permit for Tina, she did not have a health certificate for the dog that was also required to allow entry.

Ms Littlejohn said she had visited the Island yearly since 1935 and had travelled to Bermuda with a dog for the past 25 years.

She told the Customs officers that there was no way she could have obtained the permit from Government without having the necessary health certificate.

Ms Littlejohn admitted leaving the document back in New York but said that her claims could be backed up if the officers would allow her to call her veterinarian the next day.

But she said the officers refused to bend and "threw her off the Island'', bruising her thumb and wrist in the process when they tried to snatch Tina's carrying case away.

However P.c. Alan Oliver said Customs officers handled the situation properly according to a Police officer who observed the scene on Sunday after being called by a manager for US Air.

And he pointed out that the Customs officers even called a Government veterinarian to check if Ms Littlejohn and Tina could be allowed into the Country.

They were told that existing rules and regulations had to be complied with and Ms Littlejohn could either send Tina back to New York, where she would be kept at the Airport until her owner returned, or they could return home together.

"Customs refused entry to the dog, not Ms Littlejohn.'' During the discussion, continued P.c. Oliver, the Customs officers sought to move Tina -- who was in her carrying case -- to a secure area as a security measure but were hampered in their efforts by Ms Littlejohn.

"She did not take too kindly to this and the dog had to be forcibly taken.'' But he stressed that no allegations of causing injury to the woman had been received.

Ms Littlejohn claimed her tangle with Customs officers left her thumb and wrist "black and blue'' and said she ended up returning to New York on the same plane she had arrived on hours before.

She returned to the Island the following day and will remain on the Island until July 22 with Tina. Her return trip -- with the right documentation -- to the Island held no similar incidents.