A PET dog has been consigned to death row after it bit a friend of its owner, mistakenly believing he was about to attack him, a court heard.

Haze, in part a banned pit bull-type dog, lunged at Peter Fraser as he reached out to pick up a padlock, while visiting the home of its owner, Brian Sholder, in Ouston, near Chester-le-Street, on April 20.

Durham Crown Court heard that the dog “came from nowhere”, to grasp the back of Mr Fraser’s right knee in its mouth.

Rupert Doswell, prosecuting, told the court: “He went to the ground, with the dog described as, ‘ripping’ at his leg.

“The defendant took the dog by the head and shoulders and managed to release its grip.”

Mr Doswell said Sholder placed Haze in a cage while Mr Fraser was ushered outside and an ambulance was summoned.

He was taken to hospital, where he underwent three operations for injuries inflicted by the dog, but it is not believed that there would be any loss of mobility or feeling in the leg.

“There is scarring and an indentation to the back of the knee, while Mr Fraser suffers some pain when walking and a slight loss of sensation, with some on-going difficulties.”

Police removed the dog, taking it to local kennels, the day after the attack.

When interviewed, Sholder said he owned 19-month-old Haze, a male dog, for just under a year, using it to guard his property, as he lived alone.

He said it had not attacked anyone previously, but he warned visitors to his home not to walk behind him as the dog could, “take it the wrong way”, thinking they could be attacking him.

Mr Doswell said there had been an incident with a previous dog, Tyler, a Staffordshire bull terrier, owned by Sholder, when it bit his finger having attacked another dog outside his home.

As a result he had Tyler “put to sleep”, but he considered the two incidents to be “a blip”.

Joe Hedworth, mitigating, said the 31-year-old defendant, part-paralysed in a road accident as a child, leads, “a lonely existence”, owning dogs for company and to guard his home.

Mr Hedworth said Sholder now owns a new dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier.

Sholder, now of Beaconsfield Terrace, Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, admitted owning a dog which was dangerously out of control and possessing a fighting dog.

Recorder Paul Miller ordered destruction of Haze, but agreed not to impose a discretionary disqualification of the defendant keeping dogs. He warned him that any repeat would result in such a ban.

He also imposed a three-month electronically tagged, 10pm to 7am home curfew, for five days a week.