A MAN was bitten as he tried to free his small dog from the jaws of an out-of-control rottweiler.

Blackburn magistrates heard owner John Maher put his hands in the rottweiler’s mouth in a desperate effort to free his Jack Russell called Crew.

One of two men who came to help kicked the rottweiler to try and force it to release its grip and eventually a security guard from Blackburn Rovers was able to grab the dog and drag it away from Crew, who was bleeding heavily from wounds on its back.

Mr Maher needed to go to hospital for a tetanus injection after the ordeal.

Julie Ashton, 54, of Bolton Road, Ewood, Blackburn, was convicted in her absence of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control. Magistrates issued a warrant for her arrest.

Mr Maher told the court he was returning from walking his dog and was crossing a car park at Ewood Park when the rottweiler, which was not with anyone, approached.

It started sniffing Crew and then grabbed his dog by the back end.

“I was grappling with it on the pavement but it wouldn’t let go,” said Mr Maher. “I got my hands in its mouth but it still wouldn’t release my dog.”

Rovers security guard Steven Cooper grabbed the dog by the collar and dragged it away. He said the dog was in an “excitable” state.

As he held it waiting for the police to arrive a drunken woman approached and said the dog was hers.

He refused to give it to her and said she should wait for the police.

PC Kenneth Mansfield said he had seen the dog on several occasions at Ashton’s home. He said she returned to the scene and she was clearly drunk.

He said the rear door of the back yard at Ashton’s home was insecure and that he had warned her about this before.

Mr Maher said he had paid £175 in vets fees for treatment for Crew’s wounds. He said the dog was all right but had been left with a limp.

PC Mansfield said the rottweiler had been in kennels since the incident in October and the bill was around £2,500. A decision on whether to destroy rottweiler will be made at the next court hearing.