'I just don’t feel safe now' - Lostock Hall mum and seven-year-old daughter bitten by dog

Mia Ellery says her seven-year-old daughter Honour was bitten by a springer spaniel around 3.15pm last Monday in Tardy Gate Park.

Honour was rushed to hospital after the spaniel latched onto her middle finger as she stroked its head, according to mum-of-one Mia, of Marina Close.

The 36-year-old said: “I’m now terrified she’s going to be attacked again.

“It was so strange because the owner said her dog likes children and it let Honour stroke its belly and me stroke its head, so the attack wasn’t provoked.”

She added: “The owner said it was just a scratch but as Honour tried to pull away, it ripped the whole length of her finger and I had to take my T-shirt off to stem the bleeding.

“I was fuming.”

The offending dog has attacked before according to a friend of both women, says Mia, who now plans to report the incident to the police.

It is not the first time Mia has experienced such violence. She was also bitten herself while walking her nine-year-old pet, Bentley, with her daughter at around 9-30am last August on a field off Lourdes Avenue and St Cuthbert’s Road in Lostock Hall.

She says an unsupervised dog without a collar launched an unprovoked assault on her Labrador retriever, ripping open his face, and bit her hand as she tried to rescue him.

Mia added: “My daughter was screaming, I was screaming, the dog [Bentley] was screaming. He was pinned to the floor - he won’t fight back - and was taking it. I was kicking and everything to try and get this dog off but that wasn’t working. So I then started screaming for help.”

Three male dog walkers came to their rescue, with Mia adding: “Between us, kicking and pushing and all sorts, we got the dog off him.”

They ran back home where Mia says she was left in hysterics and called the police. Officers were on the scene when she returned there with a neighbour to find the offending dog on a lead tied to a fence. She says police then took the dog and his owner back home, which was on the next street.

“We have new rules now. Honour is only allowed to stroke our dog, which is upsetting for her because she loves them all,” Mia added.

“I just don’t feel safe now about going anywhere with my dog and child. I’m terrified of losing them. I’ll only take Bentley out for 10 minutes at the back of my house in the morning and at night.”

Police say an acceptable behaviour contract was issued to the suspect after Mia pressed charges.

But a few months later, the offending dog is believed to have attacked again. Martin Eastwood’s border collie, Zebady, was mauled by what is believed to have been an unmanned Staffordshire cross on Monday, October 21, at around 1pm in Tardy Gate Park.

The offending dog was stabbed by a member of the public as they tried to prize it off Zeb. The border collie underwent two emergency operations costing £3,000 due to tears in his neck that just missed his main artery. He developed a serious infection causing all the skin around his stitches to break down and begin rotting away.

Martin, 44, a support worker, says Zeb suffered from post-traumatic stress following his ordeal and that his partner Kayley Smith became too terrified to go out with their other dog Diesel.

The offending dog’s owner claims that it escaped after someone broke into their house in both cases, according to Lancashire Police.