Dog that bit Good Samaritan could be destroyed and owner jailed

The victim used her own leash to control two Malamute Husky dogs that were running loose at a carwash on Sutton Road, Kirkby, on November 3.

But as she led them home, the male named Teddy began snapping and snarling at her.

“She lifted her hands up and tried to throw the lead away. But the dog bit her on the left hand,” said Chloe Griggs, prosecuting.

“She knew that if they wanted to attack her she would be in trouble.”

The female dog, named Niva, then bit Teddy, said Ms Griggs, before they ran off to Titchfield Park.

Police tried to pen the dogs but Teddy jumped up and began growling aggressively.

The dog warden arrived and said they had previously dealt with the male and said she had to avoid eye contact because it became aggressive.

Two wardens with poles were needed to put Teddy into their van.

A dog walker spotted the two huskies “having a scuffle” with a man and his dog, earlier on Dove Lane, the court heard, and she called the dog warden and police.

Alex Gilbert, 45, of Cow Pasture Lane, admitted owning a dangerous dog that was out of control when it injured someone at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Thursday.

“I am totally shocked,” he said, when told he could be imprisoned for the offence.

Michael Little, mitigating, said Gilbert,a psychiatric nurse, had no previous convictions.

“He is very distraught and can’t believe what has happened. He said the dogs were as ‘soft as anything.’

“He says the cats take their food off them and has a three-year-old child that rides on their backs.’”

The dogs escaped previously on two occasions. After they escaped on October 31, Gilbert built up the fence.

“The dogs were left on their own after his wife received an urgent work call. She put them in the pen and left the address,” said Mr Little.

After the incident he hired a fencing company to improve the pen.

Both dogs were microchipped and had their addresses on their collars.

Magistrates told Gilbert to obtain information which would help them decide whether a destruction order would be ordered.

The case was adjourned until January 26 for a pre-sentence report.