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The owners of a family dog say pit bull clamped its teeth round the neck of their pet for “five or six minutes” in a shocking attack.

Border Collie cross Judy was left screaming after the animal entered a garden in Thornaby, seized the dog and pinned it to the ground.

“This little black pit bull came flying through the garden and locked his jaws on the dog,” said David Booth, who was sat in his garden, on Clarendon Road, with his ex-partner.

“He would not let go. It was a good five, six minutes of screaming before the owner casually walked over to see what was going on.

“If this had been a child in the garden, it could have been terrible.”

The ex-Thornaby town councillor, 41, said he desperately tried to release the dog’s jaw from his ex-partner’s dog - and it was a “miracle” he finally let go.

“I was trying to open its mouth,” said David. “The dog owner came in and basically wasn’t doing much other than trying to pick the dog up. He didn’t seem at all bothered.

“By a miracle the dog finally let go.

“He actually turned to come back into the garden, by which point we had the dog in the greenhouse and the gate shut.”

The pit bull was described as small and black, and his owner in his 50s.

Six-year-old Judy was left with bite marks on her neck in the attack, and, while shaken up, was luckily not seriously hurt.

But the incident prompted David to launch an Facebook group called ‘Dog Safe Teesside’.

He said: “With increasing attacks from dangerous dogs, this group page has been set up to keep a record of the locations and to network with local communities for the protection of dogs there owners and families.

“Dangerous dogs need to be controlled.”